Bulgaria's Economy Worsens In Line With The Rest Of The World

There are no surprises at all with this business report showing a further decline in the Bulgarian economy. I see it all around me in Yambol the small town in the southeastern part of the country. Shops closing down, building work stopped due to lack of funds, more unemployment without benefits. The view is it will get even worse and the winter ahead could a winter of discontent when the food and heating are unaffordable. Health to many will be a major problem.

In July 2009, the total business climate indicator decreased by 1.2 percentage points from June with industry and retail trade as the aggravating factors, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on July 28 2009, Bulgarian news agency BTA said.

Variations in the positive direction of the business climate indicators were registered in the construction and services sectors in July.

The month saw the composite business climate indicator in industry decrease by 4.3 percentage points from June, reaching an all-time nadir after an already worsening trend.

The decrease was due both to lowered managers' evaluations of the present business situation and to more pessimistic expectations about the next six months.

The July business climate poll found decreased production activity of industrial enterprises, but the rate of decrease was lower than in the previous months.

The order book of industrial enterprises (measured in number of months) dropped from 5.0 in April to 4.4 months in July.

In 2008 the average order book was 5.9 months long. The average capacity utilization in industry continued to decrease, reaching 63.9 per cent in July. Its 2008 average was 74.9 per cent.

Dnevnik said that managers in all four sectors were preparing to cut more staff in coming months.

Assessment for demand in the past three months was also positive but the six-year outlook is negative.

Source: www.sofiaecho.com