Foreign investments in Bulgaria from 2001 to 2010 have reached close to EUR 36 billion, figures from the Bulgarian National Bank and the InvestBulgaria Agency suggest. In unofficial data foreign capitals invested in Bulgaria during 2011 are expected to come to EUR 1 billion. Despite shrinking investment flows across the world, the Bulgarian business is optimistic. Time and again this year, exports are expected to become the driver of the Bulgarian economy. Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov confirms these predictions. In his estimates Bulgaria’s exports in 2012 will reach EUR 20 billion. The sectors of the processing industry, electronics, energy and tourism saw tangible growth in 2011. This is one of the factors boosting Bulgarian exports. Minister Traikov analyzed data by providing the following example. While in 2009 Bulgaria’s exports focused mostly on EU member countries and amounted to EUR 12 billion, they are set to grow considerably this year. And although foreign investments in Bulgaria have declined, Traicho Traikov believes that their structure is healthy. Foreign capitals have mostly shrunk where the sectors of construction, real estate, financial brokerage and trade are concerned. In the meantime however investments in industry have been growing.
The InvestBulgaria Agency has singled out the companies that made the biggest and most effective investments in Bulgaria last year. The Investor of the Year Award was given in five categories. Thirty companies applied for the competition.
“Last year looks like one of the hardest years in terms of investments, not only in Bulgaria but across the world”, IvestBulgaria Agency President Borislav Stefanov said at the award-giving ceremony. “The sectors that set the investment climate in this country before the crisis such as finance, trade, real estate etc., slumped in 2009 and continued to decline in the years that followed. At the same time, the share of industries with proven stability grew in 2010 and 2011. A major part of the investment projects completed over the last two years have been carried out in telecommunications, information technology, industry and energy.”
Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov congratulated the nominees and the award winners.
“In Bulgaria it is possible to carry out even the boldest business plans”, Minister Traikov said during the event. “In the latest edition of the World Bank report Bulgaria is ahead of the Czech Republic, Serbia, Turkey and Romania. There are two things that have drawn my attention in the list of the nominated companies. In the first place, most of them are not newcomers to the nominations. Secondly, these are companies that fully correspond to our view about the development of the Bulgarian economy, and this view can be summed up in the phrase ‘high added value’. This adds to the incomes of everybody – workers, shareholders, the society and the whole of Bulgaria. We should not miss a single occasion to recall that the Bulgarian economy is diversified, modern and with a huge potential.”
One of the awarded investors was Lufthansa Technik Sofia. The company specializes in the overhaul of aircraft across Europe. In 2011 it invested EUR 13 million in expanding its business. Lufthansa Technik Sofia CEO Bend Freckmann recalled how journalists had often asked him why Bulgaria had been chosen for that business.
Translated by Daniela Konstantinova
