For the last few years, the Polish economy, like the European and global economies, has been strongly affected by the effects of the pandemic and the large-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine. Global turmoil and the energy crisis provoked by Russia have increased inflation around the world, especially in Europe, which had a significant impact on SMEs. Additionally, Polish economic conditions in the first half of 2025 were demanding due to continued high interest rates, high energy prices and further wage increases.
In 2023 SMEs made up 99.8% of all non-financial enterprises in Poland, numbering 2.3 million SMEs in total. As in previous years, microenterprises make up the largest share of non-financial enterprises., which were responsible for 97.1% share in the structure of the entire population in 2023. Among all size classes, the microenterprises recorded the greatest increase in the number of units in the years 2010–2023, among size classes, despite a slight decline in the last year.
In 2024, a slight increase in debt was observed among both large companies and SMEs. The stock of outstanding business loans and SME loans increased in 2024. The share of non-performing loans decreased for SMEs in 2024, however in total they increased slightly. The average interest rate, both for SMEs and large companies, decreased in 2024. Similarly, the interest rate spread decreased to 0.86 percentage points.
According to PFR Ventures, in Q1 2025, PLN 444 million flowed through the Polish VC market. This is the total amount of capital invested by Polish and international funds in 35 transactions involving domestic innovative enterprises. This represents an 11% increase compared to the average quarterly value of investments in 2024. Compared to Q1 2024, the amount of invested capital increased by 155%, with a similar number of transactions and participating funds. Later-stage funding rounds, in which 17 such transactions were recorded, almost half of all transactions, played an important role. The number of transactions has remained relatively low but stable for the past year. PFR Ventures has observed an increase in the number of rounds in the growth phase.
Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego provided support worth more than PLN 331.9 billion as of April 2025 in the form of accessible guarantees. After the end of the crisis period, from 2024, the BGK's guarantee offer has stabilised and now includes 7 products aimed at entrepreneurs:
de minimis guarantee for SMEs;
de minimis guarantee for leasing for SMEs;
Biznesmax Plus guarantee for SMEs, small mid cap and mid cap companies, as collateral for loans to finance innovation, eco-innovation and digital transformation investments with additional support in the form capital and interest rate subsidies;
Ekomax guarantee for SMEs, small mid cap and mid cap companies, as collateral for loans to finance energy efficient investments with additional support in the form of capital subsidies;
Investmax guarantee for SMEs, with special focus on micro-enterprises;
Agricultural guarantee for farmers and processors of agricultural or non-agricultural products as collateral for working capital loans with additional support in the form of interest rate subsidies;
Agromax guarantee for farmers and processors of agricultural or non-agricultural products as collateral for investment loans with additional support in the form of interest rate subsidies.
From the above-mentioned guarantee products in 2024, more than 94 000 guarantees were issued in the amount of PLN 33.3 billion, which secured loans worth PLN 58.6 billion. In 2025 (January-April), more than 31 000 guarantees were granted in the amount of PLN 11.7 billion, which secured loans worth PLN 20.5 billion.