G3-247 Report BULGARIA MARKET REPORT
Political unrest as a result led to the establishment of the royal dictatorship by Tsar Boris III until he died in 1943 which saw political turmoil in the midst of World War II.
The USSR invaded in 1944 and the communist dominated Fatherland Front took power and joined the Allied side until the war ended.
In 1944 a left wing uprising led to the abolition of the monarchic rule and two yeas later a single party people’s republic was established under the leadership of Georgi Dimitrov who laid the foundations for a rapidly industrialising Stalinist state.
By the 1950s the standard of living rose significantly and political repressions dropped and by the 1980s national and per capita GDP quadrupled despite the economy being prone to debt spikes.
Todor Zhivkov introduced Soviet style policies whilst his daughter bolstered national pride. They did however try and erase the identity of the ethnic
Turk by closing mosques and forcing Turks to adopt Slavic names which resulted in the emigration of 300,000 Turks back to Turkey.
Under the influence of the collapsing Eastern Bloc in 1989 the Communist Party gave up its political monopoly, Zhivkov resigned and Bulgaria embarked on a transition to parliamentary democracy and the first free elections held in 1990 were won by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (renamed Communist Party).
It took a while for living standards to improve and although in 1997 a reform package restored economic growth, living standards continued to suffer. After 2001 this all began to improve and Bulgaria achieved high Human Development status. It joined the EU in 2007.
In February 2013 the government resigned after nationwide protests caused by high cost of utilities and low living standards and the failure of the democratic system. As a consequence the parliament was dissolved and a new provisional
government was set up by the President. The snap elections in May 2013 resulted in the narrow GERB win.
In May 2013 Plamen Oresharksi of the Bulgarian Socialist Party became Prime Minister whilst GERB’s Rosen Plevneliev was elected President
Today Bulgaria’s political structure dates to the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1991 and is a unitary parliamentary republic with a high level of political, administrative and economic centralisation
The majority of the population are located around urbanised areas in the 28 provinces and most commercial and cultural activities are centred around the capital and largest city Sofia.
Bulgaria has an emerging market economy in the upper middle income range and the private sector accounts for more than 80 percent of GDP. To stimulate private growth the government has placed better roads, rail and water infrastructures.
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