Polish MoD Suffers From Lack Of Funds
The ongoing modernization program which was ramped up in the last two years may cost even more than expected reports suggest. Although significant progress was made in terms of acquiring specific weapons systems and platforms, the Ministry of Defense may suffer from setbacks as a result of over-ambitious concepts set by former Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak. At a recent press conference, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for National Defense, was critical of his predecessor’s financial planning.
According to Kosiniak-Kamysz’s statements, the Law and Justice government was unable to secure funds for some of the basic programs accompanying the overall modernization of the armed forces. Kosiniak-Kamysz suggested that infrastructure and training has suffered because of ambitious equipment procurements.
These statements are Kosiniak-Kamysz’s response to the war waged by Błaszczak in social media. The former Minister continues to attack the actions of Kamysz, claiming that Poland will withdraw from purchases of modern equipment and systems that are much-needed to fill the gap after generous donations to Ukraine. The reason for some of the setbacks is that some of the framework agreements for equipment deliveries were not finalized while others were not sufficient financed. Kosiniak-Kamysz reiterated that: “Mr. Błaszczak’s hole is billions of zlotys. I don’t know if he wants to cover this hole with this conjuring of reality in such a negative way, or if it’s just to speak at everyday conferences.”
It is worth noting that the MoD budget consists of two main financial strains. Firstly, the ministry receives funds directly from the state treasury. The second source is the Armed Forces Support Fund (AFSF) run by the National Development Bank. The AFSF delivers funds through a payment plan coordinated with the MoD.
This time however, despite a record-breaking 5% GDP fund for the Armed Forces the MoD has to reorganize funding as the initial plans made under Błaszczak have underestimated the costs of modernization. Namely, there are 186 billion PLN (roughly 43$ billion) missing for procurement and infrastructural spending until 2035.
This means that either the National Development Bank will be forced to increase its debt for the sake of lending money to the MoD or some of the programs will have to be terminated in the coming future. Either way the national and financial security may suffer in the outcome.