The World Bank has agreed to lend Poland $300 million to help finance the restructuring of its mining industry, a program that calls for 25,000 job cuts

The World Bank has agreed to lend Poland $300 million to help finance the restructuring of its mining industry, a program that calls for 25,000 job cuts, the economy ministry said Friday. The plan by Prime Minister Leszek Miller's government is aimed at turning around an industry that lost 1 billion zlotys ($230 million) last year. The government, which is trying to cut its budget deficit as Poland prepares to join the European Union next May, expects to cut spending on the industry -- which currently employs some 140,000 miners -- by at least 20 billion zlotys ($5.1 billion) by 2007. The economy ministry said the government and the World Bank would sign the loan agreement in March 2004. The first tranche of $200 million will be used to cover benefits for laid-off miners -- among them low-interest loans allowing them to retrain or set up their own businesses. The remaining $100 million will cover an environmental clean-up effort. The Polish government is counting on EU funding to help cover the remaining cost of the restructuring drive -- estimated at 9.4 billion zlotys ($2.36 billion) between 2004 and 2006. The plans have sparked frequent and vocal protests by Polish miners. On Monday, some 25,000 miners across the depressed southern region of Silesia staged a strike to protest the reform.