Bureaucracy hinders granting of technology subsidies

The April tranche of applications were accepted a long time ago, but enterprises are still waiting for the actual cash. Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), which distributes the funds, has received no money from the Economy Ministry. The trouble is, there are no consistent rules on how to transfer the funds. With regard to loans in excess of zl.1 million, the Ministry has to ask the General Prosecutor (GP) for opinion.The GP decided there should be a subsidy contract with BGK. The Economy Ministry prepared a draft version of the contract and is waiting for BGK's response. By the look of things companies will have to wait until at least September until they get their loans. In 2007-13 there will be yet another similar program launched, called "Innovative economy", in which the Economy Ministry in co-operation with BGK will have EU loans and subsidies totaling EUR400 million to give away. (Puls Biznesu, p.4) J.L.