Borislav Stefanov, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Investment Agency: Large amounts of foreign investment remain hidden from statistics
Mr. Stefanov, what is the balance that the Bulgarian Investment Agency makes at the end of 2012 – fourth in a row in which the Bulgarian economy is in crisis? If we look at the investment process in Bulgaria purely statistical, 2012 is significantly better than the previous year. According to official data of the Bulgarian National Bank, which tracks this indicator each month, at the end of September foreign investment in our country approached EUR 1 billion against over EUR 700 million for the same period of 2011. So, statistics reports a growth of EUR 260-270 million for the first nine months. When talking about foreign investment, which is a favorite topic of everyone – of both economists and politicians – usually everything is about absolute figures and percentages between them and rarely a thorough analysis is made. Current developments in various sectors of the economy arising from direct foreign investment are not followed, their consequences are not taken into account, and appropriate conclusions are not made. If such an analysis is made, we can see that in the years back before the crisis – from 2005 to 2009 there were huge amounts of foreign investment, which ranged from EUR 6 to 9 billion a year, but the fact was not accounted that the large percentage of them came from the financial, construction and trade sector. In manufacturing, energy and telecommunications investments were in times less. Immediately after the onset of the crisis back in 2009, investments in the financial factor declined drastically. In banking they fell by over 50%, while in others, such as the leasing market, at moments they were negative. In the sector “Construction” also was reported a sharp drop in foreign investments which in 2010 reached EUR 40 million, as before that they were chasing EUR 2 billion. In the real estate sector the decline is 50%.