Sofia echo 22 December 2009

Bulgarian business braces for tougher times – Bulgarian Industrial Association


Clogged markets, red tape, corruption and an instable regulatory framework have been major obstacles Bulgarian businesses have stumbled upon in 2009, according to a poll by the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA).

An alarming 96 per cent of the respondents said business conditions have deteriorated and half of those asked, said they expected economic hardships to worsen further in 2010.

The poll was conducted among 350 members of the association, including small, medium-sized and large-scale companies of all industries and regions of the country.

Unfair competition and poor administrative services have been other major stumbling blocks for Bulgarian companies in 2009.

One in three executives thought the gray economy and corruption proliferated.

Businesses’ trust in the municipal and state administration was said to be waning.

Only one-third of the respondents planned to seek funding under European programmes, compared with 55 per cent the year before.

Less than a quarter of those polled have singled out finding skilled workforce as the major difficulty for 2009.

For the first time in five years, more than half of the companies said the year has not been a success. Although, 28 per cent said they have fared better than the previous year.

Companies’ sales volumes have bore the brunt of the economic crisis, BIA said.
A staggering 91 per cent of the respondents said they had seen sales collapse, while only 4 per cent said they had seen sales increase.

Citing a mostly bleak economic outlook, almost 40 per cent of the companies said they intended to revise their 2010 investment plans.
One in three companies said they were looking at shifting towards other activities and markets.

Thirty-eight per cent of companies said they planned to freeze wages, while 17 per cent planmed an increase by between 17 and 20 per cent.