SENIOR EXECUTIVES OF companies that have taken the plunge and invested in Bulgaria talk enthusiastically about their experience. They cite the stable political and economic climate, the high qualifications and low cost of managers and staff and the ready access to EU and Balkan markets as reasons for their success.
These investors range from large western banks, such as UniCredito Italiano, to Greek cement maker Titan, which has invested e40 million in a plant. IT company Hewlett-Packard has a regional business centre in Sofia and two mobile phone companies, Mobiltel and Global, are owned by Austrian and Greek firms.
An improving environment "Bulgaria is changing from a country in which is difficult to do business to one which is very predictable. This is particularly so for large European companies because the government knows it needs them and offers strong support," says Kirko Kirkov, president of the Bulgarian International Business Association.
Despite these successes, Bulgaria has failed to attract the level of foreign direct investment needed to provide longer-term economic prosperity. Having totalled around $500 million a year in the late 1990s, the combination of greenfield investment, sales of state industries to foreign owners, internal credits and reinvested profits rose to $1 billion in 2000 and $813 million in 2001 before slumping to $479 million last year.