Poland plans to launch an investment fund – it will finance small business enterprises in Ukraine

By the end of the year, Poland plans to launch an investment fund for the development of Polish and Ukrainian entrepreneurs in Ukraine with the possibility of insuring investments.

As reported by the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the government commissioner for Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in the field of development, Jadwiga Emilewicz, announced this.

Insurance of the fund’s investments is entrusted to the Polish state corporation for export credit insurance (KUKE). Emilevich calls this corporation “the only insurer in the world that takes on the risks associated with payment for delivered products and their transportation to customers in Ukraine.” According to her, KUKE is implementing the first contract in the interests of a company outside Poland – insuring the risks of a German company that invests in Ukraine.

The government commissioner also recalled the opening of an office of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Poland, “which will allow us to obtain greater international funding for the implementation of reconstruction projects.”

What about the money?

Plans to create an investment fund that will finance small and medium-sized Ukrainian and Polish companies were announced at a meeting with entrepreneurs at the Kiev office of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency.

According to the Polish government commissioner, the Polish Ministry of Finance has already agreed on an increase in state funding for such projects from 2024, but did not provide details.

At the same time, the agency itself, where the meeting took place, is part of the Polish Development Fund – it unites six government agencies that provide financing, insurance, and support for the activities of Polish enterprises in the domestic and international markets. The total amount of financing for the development of Polish enterprises is 21.6 billion zlotys (about $5.2 billion at the current exchange rate). It is still unknown how much will be invested in Ukrainian business.