Bulgaria Redirects Trade with Greece to Eastern Markets - FinMin

According to Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, Bulgaria has already overcome the worst of the economic the crisis. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's trade with Greece is in decline due to the economic crisis, Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has told the German Handelsblatt.

Instead, Bulgaria has increased its trading activity with Russia and Ukraine, Djankov clarified.

"Currently, there are 2000 Greek companies that have moved their headquarters to Bulgaria due to the low taxes. Furthermore, as a result of the decrease of some of the Euro zone members' ratings, retirement pension funds withdrew their investments from Greece, Portugal and Ireland and redirected them to other destinations, including Bulgaria," Djankov also pointed out.

According to the Finance Minister, Bulgaria has already overcome the worst of the economic the crisis. "Our economy has already started growing and the tax revenues have increased," he stated.

"However, we are now in a period of uncertainty, since 60% of our foreign trade is with the EU, half of which is with Germany – and since Germany registers a low economic growth, we are also affected. That is why we altered our initial forecast for a 4.1% economic growth in 2012 to 2.9%." Djankov clarified.

The Bulgarian Finance Minister surprised Handelsblatt's journalist by revealing that his country's minimum monthly wage is a mere EUR 135.

"It used to be EUR 120," he pointed out.

Djankov further stated that Bulgaria has covered the criteria for a Euro zone entry for a second year in a row. However, he added that his country should wait at least one more year in order to observe how the debt crises are developing.

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