48 Investment Guide for Southeast Europe 2004 Bulgaria I Economic overview 1 1 General economic indicators 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Indicators GDP USD bln GDP per capita USD Real GDP growth rate Industrial production growth rate Annual inflation rate Annual unemployment rate Average monthly gross salary USD Current account balance USD mln Gross external debt stock end of year USD bln 10 Foreign exchange reserves USD bln 11 Exchange rate of BGN for 1 USD end of year 1997 10 1 1 224 6 9 10 0 578 6 13 7 76 3 1 046 3 10 4 1998 12 2 1 484 3 5 12 7 1 0 12 2 106 5 61 4 10 9 1999 12 0 1 499 2 4 11 4 6 2 16 0 109 4 651 7 10 9 2000 12 0 1 479 5 4 4 6 11 4 17 9 112 1 703 7 11 2 2001 13 6 1 710 4 1 4 2 4 8 17 3 115 9 842 2 10 4 2002 15 6 1 984 4 8 3 5 3 8 16 3 131 0 677 4 10 9 2 5 3 1 3 2 3 5 3 6 4 7 1 776 5 1 675 1 1 94691 2 1019 2 2193 1 8850 Source Bulgarian National Bank National Statistical Institute National Employment Service Notes 1 On 5 July 1999 BGL was denominated at a ratio 1 000 1 BGN Since 2001 the exchange rate of the Bulgarian Lev BGN to the Euro has been fixed at EUR 1 BGN 1 95583 1 2 Foreign trade 1 2 1 Foreign trade regime and major regulations Bulgaria applies a liberal foreign trade regime meeting the WTO requirements A limited number of goods are subject to administrative control In accordance with the trade liberalization policy the number of goods subject to permits has been reduced following the Council of Ministers Decree No 233 of 8 November 2000 whose latest alteration and amendment published in State Gazette No 110 of 22 November 2002 established the foreign trade regime for 2003 1 2 2 Customs regime export and import quota and license system tariffs Under Decree 233 the following goods are subject to registration polycarbonates stampers matrixes for compact disk production in case of entry hard alcohol drinks in bulk and alcohols used in beverages production several kinds of timber in case of export Registration automatic licensing means registration of export and import transactions of goods carried out for statistic purposes The permit non automatic licensing is a license for transactions of goods this requirement originates from Bulgaria s compliance with the international agreements and respective domestic laws The permits are required for transactions with several commodity groups mainly nuclear material radioactive substances gunpowder explosives hunting and sporting arms pharmaceuticals for human medicine military products or special purpose products and goods and technologies with possible dual use civil and military etc No customs duties and taxes are charged for exported goods Bulgaria applies export quotas only for those goods which are subject to international agreements The Customs Law is based on the EU Customs Code The Bulgarian Customs Tariff is based on the international Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System and on the EU Combined Nomenclature The customs clearance of goods requires the presentation of a customs declaration which is similar to the Single Administrative Document used in the EU accompanied by the usually required commercial documents Bulgaria applies the General System of Preferences recommended by the UNCTAD which sets lower tariffs for imports from developing countries 1 2 3 Exports and imports Trade volume USD bln Exports Imports 4 7 4 8 4 2 4 0 4 8 5 1 5 7 JanJune 2003 3 5 4 9 4 9 5 0 5 5 6 5 7 3 7 3 4 9 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Source Bulgarian National Bank 1 2 4 Major trade partners Main export partners in 2002 Italy 15 4 Germany 9 5 Turkey 9 3 Greece 9 2 France 5 3 Belgium 4 8 USA 4 7 Spain 3 4 UK 2 9 Main export partners in January June 2003 Italy 15 6 Greece 10 8 Germany 10 4 Turkey 9 3 Serbia and Montenegro 5 9 Belgium 5 3 France 5 1 USA 5 0 Main import partners in 2002 Russia 14 5 Germany 14 3 Italy 11 3 Greece 6 0 France 5 6 Turkey 4 9 Ukraine 3 1 UK 2 6 USA 2 2 Austria 2 1 Romania 2 1 Main import partners in January June 2003 Germany 14 1 Russia 13 5 Italy 10 5 Greece 6 8 Turkey 6 0 France 5 6 Investment Guide for Southeast Europe 2004 Bulgaria 1 2 5 Structure of foreign trade by regions Source Bulgarian National Bank Source Bulgarian National Bank Source Bulgarian National Bank Source Bulgarian National Bank 49 50 Investment Guide for Southeast Europe 2004 Bulgaria 1 2 6 Structure of foreign trade by commodities Source Bulgarian National Bank Source Bulgarian National Bank Source Bulgarian National Bank Source Bulgarian National Bank 51 Investment Guide for Southeast Europe 2004 Bulgaria 1 2 7 Major bilateral and multilateral trade agreements WTO Bulgaria is a member of the WTO since 1 December 1996 European Union the Europe Agreement of Association the Interim Agreement on Trade and Trade Related Matters covering trade components was enforced on 31 December 1993 Since 1 January 2002 trade in industrial goods between Bulgaria and the EU is duty free Free trade Agreements with EFTA CEFTA Turkey Macedonia Latvia Lithuania Israel Estonia Albania Bosnia Herzegovina Pending signature of Free Trade Agreements with Moldova and Serbia Montenegro 1 2 8 Duty free zones Duty free zones were established in Bulgaria in 1987 There are six duty free zones located on strategic transport routes leading to the main international markets the EC the Central European and ex Soviet countries the Middle East and Northern Africa namely in Vidin Rousse Dragoman Svilengrad Plovdiv and Bourgas All of them are initiated and provided with land and infrastructure by the state A purpose set joint stock company or a state owned company manages each zone All kinds of production trade activities and services are allowed to be performed on the territory of the free zones as provided for in the Law on Customs January 1999 1 3 Privatisation 1 3 1 Privatisation policy and legal framework The adoption in 1992 of the Transformation and Privatisation of State Owned and Municipal Owned Enterprises Act TPSMEA started the process of denationalisation in Bulgaria In March 2002 TPSMEA was abolished and a new Law on Privatisation and Post Privatisation Control LPPPC was enforced The enterprises which have not been denationalised are now treated as enterprises for which a privatisation procedure has been launched except for some monopolies and key institutions listed in a special document including regional utility companies airports sea ports free trade zones Bulgarian Posts NPP Kozlodui Bulgargas the Bulgarian Stock Exchange etc There is a
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