Buy & Sell Bulgaria Insight Newsletter

8th Apr, Monitor daily

Bulgaria is number one attractive destination for investors. This showed the results of the traditional annual poll of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, which was released yesterday. According to it the investors evaluate Bulgaria’s charm for foreign investment with a total score of 2.4 at a maximum of 1 rating. Second, the German contractors rated their own country with an assessment of 2.9, followed by Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland, while China ranks only sixth for attractiveness. “93% of surveyed German companies are extremely pleased with chosing Bulgaria as an investment location and would not look for other places to invest their money”, said Mitko Vassilev, Chief Executive of the chamber. Over the past 8-9 years the trade turnover between Bulgaria and Germany has been constantly increasing, and 2008 was a record-breaking, Vassilev reminded. A turnover of € 4 bn was reported at that time. As a result of the economic crisis in 2009 there was a decline by 20% representing a turnover of € 3.3 bn, said Vassilev. The major loser of the reported decrease in his view, however, is Germany. The proof of that is the fact that in 2009 export to Bulgaria has decreased by 20%.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian import in Germany fell by only 2%. Regarding the amount of foreign investment in the country Germany holds 5 th place, or 7% of the total foreign investment. In 2009, however, Germany’s investments marked a 41% reduction compared to their level five years ago. According to a poll 79% of Germany’s investors predict that this year the economic situation in the country will not improve and one of every four expects the economic conditions to become worse. At the same time, the contractors are more optimistic about their own enterprises in Bulgaria. 45% of them believe that the condition of their companies will improve in 2010. The survey results also show that every fourth company in Germany is concerned that they will be forced to make dismissals, while 26.5% of contractors intend to increase the staff.

The low tax burden, EU membership and low labor costs are one of the biggest advantages of Bulgaria, while the largest disadvantages are the public infrastructure and corruption, the poll indicates further.

In answer to a question, Mitko Vassilev said that the German contractors follow closely the activity of the government against crime and corruption and these efforts are admirable, because for the first time something real is being done.