“A clear tendency has been taking shape since the beginning of the year – the business climate in Bulgaria has been improving. There are positive expectations of development in all sectors of the economy, especially in industry and construction,” said Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov a few days ago after his ministry almost doubled its GDP growth forecast for the country for 2015 from 0.8 to 1.4 percent.

As politically coloured as this statement may sound, it is far from an unsubstantiated allegation and is based on real facts – suffice it to go back no more than 10 days, during which several major deals were struck and investments made that loom large against the backdrop of the reigning despondency in the world of business.

A EUR 13 million investment is being made in the Dimitrov men’s fashion company in Pleven. This, as the company proprietor Magdalen Dimitrov says, will create 800 jobs. The groundbreaking ceremony for a new Desizo Monni production and administrative facility of the company in Pleven was attended by National Assembly President Tsetska Tsacheva. The idea is to turn a 6-storey factory for men’s ready-to-wear clothing belonging to the company and employing 1,200, into a super-modern facility. The Bulgarian company is a key partner to two of the world’s high-end brands – Hugo Boss and Giorgio Armani – and manufactures their commodities.

One more Italian investor – Italcementi Group – made an even bigger investment, opening a new cement plant in Devnya on the Black Sea. The installation for the production of cement clinker is worth EUR 165 million and created 3,000 jobs. Its opening ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, the President of Italcementi Group Carlo Pesenti and Italy’s ambassador to Bulgaria Marco Conticelli. For its investment in the new plant, at the beginning of the year the Invest Bulgaria Agency declared Devnya Cement Investor of the Year. With a production capacity of 4,000 tons, the project is among the biggest of its kind in Europe. And it should not be forgotten that Italy is in the top 10 of foreign investors in Bulgaria.

As of last week Tokuda Bank has a new owner, a Bulgarian one. Tokuda Bank is one of the small banks in the country, until now owned by the Japanese International Hospital Service, belonging to Torao Tokuda, founder and proprietor of the Japanese corporation Tokushukai Medical which built and owns one of the biggest and most modern hospitals in Sofia. The banking company’s controlling shareholding was purchased by the Doverie United Holding PLC, whose stock is traded on the Bulgarian stock market and which has 148,000 stockholders – natural and legal persons. The sale is yet to be approved by several regulatory authorities, be as it may, this is a deal that is an indication of an improvement in the business climate for Bulgarian as well as for foreign investors in the country. All the more so that according to reliable sources a deal is forthcoming with Austrian investors for the notorious telecom – the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company – which is one of three mobile network operators in the country. In light of all this, it seems Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was right in writing in his Facebook account that “in just a few days, we opened factories in Bulgaria that will provide jobs to more than 10,000.”

English version: Milena Daynova