Cash-strapped steel mill requests state assistance after banks refuse loans

The management board of troubled steel mill Huta Katowice (HK) filed a motion on Tuesday with the Treasury Ministry, asking it for zl.660 million in financial aid, badly needed for the company to remain financially afloat. In addition, the board held talks yesterday with some of the company's creditors regarding the possible postponement of debt repayment for two years, a step which should result in saving the company zl.20 million. To date, the Treasury, which is responsible for making a decision on whether or not HK receives the state's assistance, has expressed opposition to the idea. HK ran into financial problems when its main creditor banks declined to give it short-term loans, citing uncertainties surrounding HK's future strategy. According to HK head Miroslaw Wrobel, if the issues of privatization and HK's short-term financing are not resolved by March of this year, this would spell the steel mill's certain demise. HK's total debts now reach zl.2 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B2, Gazeta Wyborcza, p.20)