site.btaSoftware Companies Association Chairman Dimitrov: Big Tech Companies’ Difficulties Reduce Growth in Bulgarian Sector

The difficulties of large technology companies around the world, which are laying off employees to reduce costs, lead to a drop in growth in the Bulgarian sector, Dobroslav Dimitrov, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Association of Software Companies (BASSCOM), said in an interview for BTA. "We continue to grow, but not at the pace we have in recent years. There was an almost instant freeze of new appointment in the IT industry in Bulgaria, which has been evident since the end of spring last year," he added, commenting on the situation in the sector in Bulgaria.

In his words, there are also layoffs in Bulgaria, but they are rather in companies that are subdivisions of Western ones with development centres here and are the result of the policy of their parent headquarters.

Dimitrov refuted the conclusions that the market is oversaturated with specialists; on the contrary, in the future the demand for them will increase. However, this does not mean that there will not be some difficulties in the next six to twelve months, he underscored.

"The software sector is responsible for a third of Bulgaria's services exports. If one-third of services exports have a problem with their otherwise breakneck growth, there can hardly be any talk that our economy will explode by much. There is a very big warning here: that 2024 will not be as rosy as some politicians see it. Businesses are much more careful in their planning now," he said.

Dimitrov also warned that the change in taxation for large companies with no exceptions for those that create jobs will not have good consequences, and Bulgaria loses one of its few competitive advantages.