Banks to issue tax-deductible home loans from Q2

By the end of February, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) intends to sign agreements with banks willing to grant preferential fixed-interest home loans. "The first loans will be launched in the second quarter of 2003, in some banks even earlier," said the director of BGK's housing funds department, Jolanta Bondarczuk. Commercial banks' interest in the program is huge and many of them, including Kredyt Bank, PKO BP and BPH PBK, have already expressed their willingness to co-operate. The loans will finance the purchase or renovation of houses and flats and the interest will be tax-deductible. (Gazeta Finansowa, Feb. 1-7, p. 9) A.Z.