Bulgaria Businessforecast Industry Forecast

The Bulgaria Business Forecast Report provides essential macroeconomic, political and financial analysis for companies doing business in Bulgaria. The Bulgaria Business Forecast Report helps businesses with Bulgarian market assessment, strategic planning and decision making to promote growth and profitability in Bulgaria and is an essential tool for CEOs, Chairmen, Finance Directors/CFOs, Managing Directors, Marketing/Sales Directors with commercial interests in this emerging market.

An influential new analysis of Bulgaria's political, economic and financial prospects through end-2012, just published by award-winning forecasters, Business Monitor International.

 

 

 

Key Uses of the Bulgaria Business Forecast Report | Bulgaria's Political Outlook | Bulgaria's Economic Outlook | Bulgaria's Business Environment | Key Bulgaria Industry Sectors | Bulgaria BMI's Executive Summary | Our Europe Subscribers | Full Range of BMI's Business Forecast Reports

Key Uses for the Bulgaria Business Forecast Report

  • Forecast the pace and stability of Bulgaria's economic and industry growth through end-2012
  • Identify and evaluate adverse political and economic trends in Bulgaria, to facilitate risk mitigation strategies
  • Assess critical shortcomings of Bulgaria's business environment that pose hidden barriers and costs to corporate profitability
  • Contextualise Bulgaria's country risks against Europe regional peers using BMI's country comparative risk ratings system
  • Target business opportunities in Bulgaria's high-growth industry sectors
  • Evaluate external threats to doing business in Bulgaria, including currency volatility, the commodity price boom and protectionist policies

The Bulgaria Business Forecast Report by Business Monitor International includes four major sections: Bulgaria's Political Outlook, Bulgaria's Economic Outlook, Bulgaria's Business Environment and Bulgaria's Key Industry Sectors.

Bulgaria's Political Outlook:

What are the political risks to doing business in Bulgaria over the next 5 years?

BMI's Bulgaria Country Risk Ratings evaluate the short and medium-term threats posed by government instability, adverse economic policy-making, deterioration in the business environment and external shocks.

Bulgaria Political Outlook Contents

  • SWOT Analysis for the Bulgarian Market
    Political Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats facing Bulgaria.
  • Political Stability and Risk Assessment for Bulgaria
    BMI's Risk Ratings assess explicit short and long-term risks to political stability; latest ratings, rankings and trends for Bulgaria's risk are compared with Europe regional and global averages.
  • Current Administration and Policy-making in Bulgaria
    BMI profiles key policy-makers and power-brokers in the Bulgarian government, assessing threats to the continuity of Bulgarian economic policy, and likely changes to the business operating environment through end-2012.
  • Bulgarian Foreign Policy
    BMI examines key trends and shifts in Bulgaria's foreign relations and alignments with Europe neighbours, the United States and Europe, focusing on external influences.

Key Benefits

  1. Benchmark Bulgaria's risk profile against its neighbours, the global and regional average, allowing easy comparison of risks between key business markets.
  2. Identify, evaluate and anticipate political and security risks to the business environment in Bulgaria, and to your company's current operations and future plans.
  3. Gain valuable insights into the Bulgarian government and policy-making, through BMI's specialist team of analysts and economists, and their exclusive network of private and public sector sources.

Bulgaria's Economic Outlook:

How will Bulgarian economic policy-making and performance impact corporate profitability over 2008-12?

BMI provides fully independent 5-year forecasts for Bulgaria through end-2012 for more than 35 macroeconomic variables. We evaluate Bulgarian growth, and also forecast the impact of economic management, including central bank policy, on profitability.

Bulgaria Economic Outlook Contents

The Bulgaria Business Forecast Report features explicit BMI economic forecasts for Bulgaria, with supporting commentary and analysis, for end-2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 set against Bulgarian government views. Underpinning our Bulgaria forecasts are key assumptions for the global economy through end-2012, covering growth, inflation, employment, trade and investment, interest and exchange rates in the US, Japan and the Euro-zone.

Coverage of Key Economic Issues in Bulgaria

  • Economic Activity in Bulgaria
    Real GDP growth; industrial growth; employment growth; inflation and consumer prices; consumption (indicative wages, retail sales, consumer confidence)
  • Fiscal Policy in Bulgaria
    Current macroeconomic strategy and implementation policies; government finance (revenue, expenditure, budget balance); tax reforms
  • Monetary Policy in Bulgaria
    Interest rate trends (bank lending and deposit rates); inflation (retail price inflation, consumer price inflation); exchange rate policy in Bulgaria; Bulgarian currency controls; influence of foreign direct investment inflows; exchange rates and foreign exchange reserves
  • Balance of Payments in Bulgaria
    Merchandise trade (exports, imports, trade balance); current account balance
  • Foreign Direct Investment in Bulgaria
    Foreign direct investment approvals and inflows; the foreign investment climate
  • Bulgarian External Debt
    Debt profile (short- and long-term debt; public and private sector exposure)

Key Benefits

  1. Rely upon BMI's 100% independent Forecast Scenarios for Bulgaria and underlying assumptions - we take no advertising and are privately-owned.
  2. Exploit the benefits of BMI's comprehensive and reliable macroeconomic Bulgaria database, sourced and fully maintained by BMI from an extensive network of private sector, government and multilateral contacts.
  3. Gain key insights into the current and future direction of Bulgarian government economic policy

Bulgaria's Business Environment:

How internationally competitive is Bulgaria's regulatory environment, and what changes can be expected?

BMI assesses levels of transparency, flexibility of labour market, tax burden, development of the banking sector and credit availability, infrastructure and IT, foreign investment regime and trade liberalisation in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria Business Environment Contents

  • Bulgaria's Business Environment Risk Rating with SWOT Analysis
    Short and long-term business environment risk ratings for Bulgaria, benchmarked against ratings for Europe and neighbouring countries.
  • Country Competitiveness for Bulgaria
    Competitiveness of Bulgaria's business operating environment in supporting corporate growth and profitability over the 5-year forecast horizon, compared with regional neighbours.

Coverage of Key Business Environment Issues in Bulgaria's Domestic Environment

Transparency, cronyism and corruption; labour market flexibility; corporate tax burden; interest rate levels; access of private sector to lines of credit; sophistication of banking sector and stock market; levels of business confidence; infrastructure and IT

  • Foreign Direct Investment in Bulgaria
    Analysis of foreign investment regime, foreign ownership laws; attractiveness of business environment to foreign investors; review of major foreign direct investments over the last 24 months, and of strategic sectors attracting most interest
  • Foreign Trade with Bulgaria
    Analysis of trading environment, government trade policy, liberalisation measures, tariffs and membership of trade areas

Bulgaria's Key Industry Sectors

Which industry sectors in Bulgaria will grow fastest, and where are the major investment opportunities in the Bulgarian market?

BMI targets investment opportunities in Bulgaria's high growth industries, including automotives, food and drink, infrastructure, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, telecommunications and IT.

Coverage of Bulgaria's Key Industry Sectors - Bulgarian Market Overview

Size, value and structure of industry; impact of liberalisation and privatisation on sector performance and prospects; friendliness of business environment

  • Latest Developments in Bulgaria
    Review of latest projects, deals, privatisations, mergers and acquisitions, and implications for sector performance; company rankings for national and multinational companies in Bulgaria; main industry players by local sales, employee size, market share and main brands, products and services
  • 5-year Industry Forecast for Bulgaria
    Historic dataset (2003-2007) and BMI forecasts through end-2012, covering headline industry data broken out by sub sector

Key Benefits

  1. Target strategic sector-by-sector opportunities in Bulgaria's high growth industries, attracting public expenditure and foreign investment; identify key players and competitors driving growth, investment and business opportunities.
  2. Benefit from competitive intelligence on top national and multinational companies operating in Bulgaria's major industry sectors, including analysis of recent trends in sales and market share, company strategies, product launches and latest deals.

Who buys the Europe Business Forecast Reports?

The Bulgaria Business Forecast Report is an essential tool for CEOs, Chairmen, Finance Directors/CFOs, Managing Directors, Marketing/Sales Directors with commercial interests in Bulgaria.

Our Business Forecast Reports are relied upon by corporates, banks, government departments and multinational organisations around the world.

Business Monitor International's Business Forecast Report subscribers include:

Abbott International, Air Liquide, Akzo Nobel, Alcatel, Alpha Cement Group, Atlas Copco, BASF, British American Tobacco Company, Coca-Cola HBC, Colgate Palmolive Romania, Deloitte & Touche, Ericsson Telecommunications Bulgaria Ltd, Ernst & Young, Exxonmobil Ltd, Heineken Brewery, Hewlett- Packard Slovakia, S.r.o, Indesit Company, Microsoft Software, Novartis Pharma Services Inc, Omnitel, Opus Land Development SA, Provident Financial, Raiffeisen Bank, Robert Bosch Elektronika Kft., Siemens Srl, Xerox Ltd 

 

" BMI's Business Forecast Report has proved to be what we were seeking for our strategic planning process. The most useful sections for our purpose are the Central Economic Forecast and the Key Economic Sectors, which will support my team to update our strategic planning for the next 5 years. "
Chief Operating Officer, PSV Company, Romania.

BMI's Executive Summary for Bulgaria

[TOP]

Current Account Deficit An Increasing Concern

We believe that the Bulgarian local elections on October 28 will be further testimony to the declining popularity of the incumbent Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). On the back of widespread disillusionment over the ruling coalition's failure to address the problems of crime, poverty and corruption, the abstinence rate could be as high as 47% of the electorate, which is likely to play further into the hands of to the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and even consolidate its position in rural areas. With regards to the economy, we forecast real GDP growth rate to remain above 6.0% in 2007. The fact that we do not expect 2007's growth rate to outstrip last year's 6.1% outturn (in spite of H107's economic activity coming in stronger than that in H106) is in line with our view that real GDP growth is likely to slow during the second half of 2007. This slowdown will mainly occur on the back of a deceleration in consumer demand and private investment, a trend which is expected to continue over the course of 2008.

While we remain constructive about Bulgaria's fiscal position and project continuous budget surpluses over the coming four years, we believe that the government will post incrementally lower surpluses going forward. This is mainly because of rising politically-motivated spending, especially in light of the government's poor popular ratings ahead of the local elections in October 2007 and the general elections in 2009. Thus, although the government pledged in its 2008-2010 budget framework to run a surplus of 2.5% of GDP in 2008 (up from a planned 2.3% this year), we remain more cautious and forecast the balance to come in at BGN1.0bn in 2008, or 1.7% of GDP. We maintain our downbeat outlook on Bulgaria's current account balance, with our deficit forecasts currently standing at 19.6% of GDP in 2007 and 19.8% in 2008. While the combined capital/financial account surplus is likely to finance the shortfall in the years ahead, we believe that potentially negative repercussions of tightening liquidity on the real economies of Bulgaria's main trading partners poses a downside risk to our outlook on the country's external accounts. More importantly, considering that foreign loans constitute an essential part of total capital inflows, rising borrowing costs abroad could limit the availability of loans and therefore make the financing of the current account deficit more difficult going forward.

For now, eurozone interest rates appear to be tight enough to keep a lid on excessive consumer spending and inflation alike, bearing in mind the Bulgarian lev's peg to the euro and the country's limited independent monetary policy. Nevertheless, given the risks outlined above, we believe that in spite of further monetary tightening by the European Central Bank over the course 2008, interest rates could prove to be too lax and therefore result in a sudden increase in prices in the years ahead.

Read about our other Business Forecast Reports  

Asia

Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Europe

Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Caucasus, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan & Central Asia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine

Middle East

Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon & Syria, Kuwait, Oman & Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE

Africa

Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Francophone West Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, North Africa, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

North & South America

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, East Caribbean, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, West Caribbean

 

Business Monitor International

Business Monitor International
A Market Leader in Country Risk, Industry Intelligence and Company Research

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BUSINESS MONITOR INTERNATIONAL's country risk analysis and forecasts, market research on leading industries, and multinational company research is relied upon by corporates, banks, government departments and multilateral organisations in over 125 countries around the world.

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has for 25 years specialised in political risk analysis, financial markets analysis, and macroeconomic forecasts on 175 global markets.

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