Mateusz Morawiecki made the announcement at an international business conference in the southern Polish city of Katowice, the state PAP news agency reported.
Grace period
Under the plan, “those with loans in the domestic currency will be able to take a so-called loan holiday until the end of next year,” Morawiecki said.
“It means that throughout 2022 and 2023, one loan instalment per quarter, eight in total, will be interest-free,” he added.
More funds to support distressed loan takers
In addition, the government will ask banks to provide “much more real” support to distressed borrowers, Morawiecki announced.
An existing support fund will be boosted by PLN 1.4 billion (EUR 300 million) to PLN 2 billion (EUR 430 million) “to help the most distressed loan customers,” such as those who become unemployed or whose instalments exceed 50 percent of income, he said.
Banks to create EUR 750 mln resilience fund
The prime minister also announced the establishment of a separate PLN 3.5 billion (EUR 750 million) fund to strengthen the resilience of the entire banking industry.
“This sum won't be provided from the state budget - it will come exclusively from the profits of the commercial banking sector,” Morawiecki said.
Push for fixed-rate mortgages, lower rates on deposits
Morawiecki appealed to commercial lenders to establish a fixed rate for mortgage loans “so that we can guarantee security to the customers, to the Polish people.”
He also urged banks “to raise rates on deposits for people and businesses” in line with recent interest-rate hikes by the central bank.
“Don’t wait any longer because this is excessive profit … unfair profit,” Morawiecki appealed.
WIBOR rate to be replaced from 2023
He announced that as of next year, the Warsaw Interbank Offer Rate (WIBOR) would be replaced by “a different, transparent rate” for calculating the cost of credit.
The new rate will be “much more favourable to all loan customers,” Morawiecki said at the opening of the 14th European Economic Congress in Katowice.
Poland’s inflation stood at 11 percent in year-on-year terms in March, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) said in an estimate earlier this month.
The Polish central bank’s Monetary Policy Council this month raised key interest rates for the seventh consecutive time in a bid to tame surging consumer prices.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP