site.btaBulgaria Is Becoming Attractive Business Destination in Spite of Problems, AHK Bulgarien Says

Bulgaria Is Becoming Attractive Business Destination in Spite of Problems, AHK Bulgarien Says

Sofia, April 26 (BTA) - Bulgaria is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for investments in spite of the continuing problems about which investors have been alerting for years and which have not been resolved for years, the Deputy Manager of AHK Bulgarien (German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce) Carmen Struck said. She was presenting the results of the chamber's annual survey of the business environment in Bulgaria at a BTA-hosted news conference on Wednesday.

Struck noted that 2016 ended with yet another record of trade between Bulgaria and Germany which totaled 6,660 million euro. Bulgarian National Bank data cite 124.2 million euro foreign direct investments from Germany in the past year.

The German-Bulgarian Chamber has been conducting surveys of the business environment in Bulgaria among its members since 2005. In 2016 a total of 102 companies participated in the survey conducted simultaneously from February 1 to March 1 in 15 countries from Central and Eastern Europe. A total of 67 per cent of the participating companies fall in the SME category with less than 250 employees and 33 enterprises are large.

Asked whether they would invest in Bulgaria again, 90 per cent of the respondent companies answered in the positive. Compared to last year's survey, 84 per cent of the respondents gave the same answer. Fifty-nine per cent of the interviewees consider the present economic situation as satisfactory. Sixty-two per cent of the respondents forecast improvement of the condition of their enterprises and only 6 per cent expect it to deteriorate.

A total of 56 per cent are of the opinion that exports this year will increase and only 3 per cent they will decline. Forty-seven per cent plan more investments in 2017 while 41 per cent do not expect a change. As to the workforce, 48 per cent plan to employ new workers while 7 per cent will most probably dismiss part of their staff. In comparison, the previous year 39 per cent planned increase of staff and 9 per cent of the respondents - dismissal of staff. Forty-two per cent want the euro to be introduced and 38 per cent are of the opposite opinion.

Ineffective public administration, legal insecurity, ineffective fight against corruption and crime, lack of transparency in public procurement, as well as the lack of political and social stability leading to unpredictability of economic policy are the obstacles that business sees and that for yet another year ranks Bulgaria near the bottom in Central and Eastern Europe.

As to tax burden and the price of workforce, Bulgaria ranks first and second respectively among the remaining 15 Central and East European countries.

Bulgaria is last in terms of the quality of vocational and academic education. Well-educated staff meeting the needs of the labour market can promote its competitiveness in comparison to neighboring countries, which is why business wants more expenses for quality education.

Business needs stability and predictability, and political turbulence has a negative impact on economy, 83 per cent of the respondents say. In their opinion, the political crisis in Bulgaria after the resignation of Boyko Borissov's second cabinet in November 2016 will have a negative effect on the economy.