With the winter season coming to an end, Bulgaria is looking to the summer now as tourism chiefs hope to see their market expand still further. According to recent Economy Ministry data, revenues from tourism accounted for around 11% of GDP in 2004, with 4.6m visitors arriving in the country. This represented a rise of over 14% year-on-year, and a similar increase is expected in 2005. Meanwhile,…
With the Central Bank this week approving new measures to open up Bulgarian bank accounts to international transfers next year, the circulation of money is likely to be vastly improved. However, many in the sector remain worried about the country's continuing credit boom, with a series of steps aimed at throttling this back coming into force as the month began. The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB)…
The Bulgarian administrative court's decision this week to begin examining legal challenges against the award of operating concessions at the country's two main Black Sea airports could not have come at a more critical time. The challenge has created uncertainty just as the country begins gearing up for what it hopes will be another record-breaking year at its Black Sea tourist resorts. The legal…
As ordinary Bulgarians hold their breath over who will rule the country next, the best way to describe the current political climate in a phrase would be, "Don't speak too soon." However, political uncertainty in the country could have major economic ramifications should the EU decide to delay Bulgarian membership until 2008. In the past week, Bulgaria has seen a new prime minister, Sergey Stanishev,…
With the new Bulgarian government sworn in after weeks of political wrangling, the business of getting on with preparing for EU entry, scheduled for January 1, 2007, can now finally resume. On August 24, Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin told the press that all outstanding EU-required laws would be submitted by the end of September, ahead of the key October report by the European Commission (EC) assessing…
As the ghoulish inflationary pressures of past, present and future converge on Bulgaria in the run up to Christmas, people here will be wishing the government had the resources of Santa Claus at its disposal to keep them warm and well fed. While the economy has been chugging along quite nicely, with growth in the first half of 2005 stated as 6.2% by the National Statistics Institute (NSI), there…
Last week's South-east Europe Economic Forum (SEEF) in Sofia turned the spotlight on a region that is currently experiencing sustained growth and rising foreign direct investment (FDI). Yet it also highlighted the need for some growth in the numbers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), if countries such as Bulgaria are to reach the economic levels seen elsewhere on the continent. The region…
Controlling an explosive credit boom has been the top priority again in Sofia recently, with the country's central bank moving to place new restrictions on lending. Yet these efforts have met with mixed reviews in the business community. On November 10, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) announced updated rules for the issuing of credit, changes which reflect the central bank's continuing efforts…
News that investments in Bulgaria by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have recently vaulted past the 1bn euro mark has underscored the burgeoning foreign interest in the country. At the same time, official figures show that the 1.1bn euros directly invested by the EBRD has served to attract another 4bn euros in additional investments to Bulgaria. The news came at a meeting…
Bulgaria's economy received two harsh but not completely unexpected blows Monday after the Central Bank released figures on the country's current account deficit and its foreign investment levels for 2005. The figures indicated that the country's 2005 current account deficit grew to a new high of 3.16bn euros, while the trade deficit climbed by 50% to 4.08bn euros. "The rise in imports was fuelled…
