Bulgaria
Executive Summary
Bulgaria
is strategically located in south-east Europe
in the region known as The Balkans. It shares
national borders with five countries and the Black
Sea lies on its eastern border. It has an area
of 111,000 sq km and an estimated population of
7.5m. Its capital city, Sofia, is one of the oldest
cities in Europe and has good connections to other
parts of Europe.
The majority of the
population follow the Bulgarian Orthodox religion
and the native language is Bulgarian, spoken by
84% of the people.
The National Assembly
of Bulgaria comprises 240 elected Deputies. The
supreme decision-making body in Bulgarian politics
is the Parliament. The Coalition for Bulgaria
has the largest share of the vote and most elected
Deputies. The present Prime Minister is Sergei
Stanishev and the recently re-elected President
Georgi Parvanov is serving his second five-year
term in office.
Bulgaria has suffered
from high inflation, mismanagement of the economy
and corruption since the fall of the Soviet Bloc
in 1989. However, economic reforms were introduced
in the late 1990s and the economic picture has
since improved.
Bulgaria joined the
European Union in 2007 and although inflation
is lower than it was, it remains a problem, currently
running at an average of 7%. The currency is the
Lev (BGN), which is pegged to the Euro. There
are no immediate plans to adopt the Euro as the
currency of Bulgaria.
The transport infrastructure
of the country is less advanced than in other
emerging countries in the region. Sofia has important
rail links to other countries, notably Greece
and Turkey, which were modernised recently. Road
standards are relatively poor and a project funded
by the World Bank is aimed at upgrading the roads
and making them safer to use.
As with many countries,
the take-up of mobile technology has been prolific
– there are over 10m mobile phones. Internet
usage is lower than in many other countries as
the cost of computers and Internet access is beyond
the reach of most Bulgarian citizens.
Zero corporation
tax rates are available to manufacturing companies
willing to locate in areas of high unemployment,
while state grants and tax credits are also available
in certain circumstances.
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