site.btaForum Discusses Challenges Facing Bulgarian Economy

Forum Discusses Challenges Facing Bulgarian Economy

Sofia, February 17 (BTA) - Bulgaria has nearly all conditions to be a haven for investments seeking a more peaceful and better place, Deputy Prime Minister for European Funds and Economic Policies Tomislav Donchev said, addressing an economic forum entitled "Challenges Facing the Bulgarian Economy" which opened here on Wednesday. Investors from unstable regions seek better places for their investments and this is an opportunity for Bulgaria, he commented.

Donchev cited the need for doing away with several myths, including the one that the Bulgarian economy has a small share of industry and a weak technological basis. According to 2014 data, the share of industry in GDP stood at 28.4 per cent. In Donchev's words, this value is higher than the average indicator for Europe, which is - 16-17 per cent. The major task is to make the industry with such a serious share more innovative and produce products with higher added value, the Deputy PM said.

The key task the public and the private sector share is connected with the attraction and the preservation of human capital, Donchev said, contrary to the myth that human capital in Bulgaria is of bad quality and resources. The software industry forms 1.74 per cent of the country's GDP, in the last ten years the revenues from IT companies have risen by 600 per cent and this shows that there is no way the above thesis could be quite true, he added.

Yet another myth which the PM recommended should be forgotten is that of the addiction of BulgariaТs economy to European funds, even to the point where some say they make the economy sick, which is not true. Donchev noted their real share in Bulgaria's GDP is less than 5 per cent.

Commenting on the new programme period the Deputy PM said that business faces the challenge to avail itself of the opportunities of financial engineering, whose share after 2020 will be higher and with approach 30 per cent.

Donchev expects that the final data will show an economic growth for Bulgaria of at least 3 per cent in 2015.

According to 2014 data, about 61 per cent of the country's GDP, or a turnover of 74,000 million leva, came from micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Of these, over 50 per cent of all funds fall in the SME business sector in the country. The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency Executive Director, Marieta Zaharieva said, as quoted by the agency.

Economy Minister Bozhidar Loukarski said a strategy promoting women's entrepreneurship was being drafted. One of the measures under the Entrepreneurship 2020 Bulgaria Action Plan is a strategy to encourage enterprising women. It is being drafted by women's entrepreneur organizations and the Economy Ministry. Its objective is to increase the number of women entrepreneurs, strengthen their organizations, provide training and apprenticeship, and support them in dealing with business problems.

Operational Programme Innovations and Competitiveness will also support women starting their own business under Axis 2, which aims to provide access to financing in support of entrepreneurship.

Loukarski noted that the proportion of women entrepreneurs had increased gradually in recent years. National Statistical Institute data show that women business owners account for 30 per cent of all entrepreneurs, which is also the EU average. He said the Ministry's policies were designed to increase this share.