Bulgarian Industrial Association: Economy Bottoms Out

Bulgarian economy emerges from recession after a turbulent 2013, the results of the traditional annual poll of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) have shown.

The results of the survey conducted among the BIA members were announced in a press conference Monday.

More than 22% of the polled said that the business climate in 2013 had improved compared to the previous year. Some 53% of the respondents claimed that the economic conditions in the country were deteriorating, while 23% of people thought they remained the same.

Despite the fact that 39% of BIA members anticipated economic stagnation in 2014, the poll showed certain optimism – 33% foresaw over 1.5% growth.

Only 25% of the polled this year said they ‘expected crisis aggravation’, compared to 51% of pessimists in 2012.

Every third businessman (29%) declared recovery of the economic conditions, 36% were able to maintain the same indicators, and 32% reported a decline of business performance. The crisis has affected mostly the sales/turnover (50% of the polled companies reported a decline), followed by production volumes (41%), employment (36%), investments (33%) and market presence (31%).

Government actions to overcome the economic crisis received negative ratings. Nearly 72% of people were dissatisfied with ex-PM Boyko Borisov’s cabinet, followed by the socialist cabinet led by Plamen Oresharsky (45%) and the provisional PM Marin Raykov (31 %).

A total of 30% of respondents approved of the current cabinet of PM Oresharski, while the previous two cabinets received 14-16% positive ratings.

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