Evaluation of the competitiveness and business environment in Bulgaria.

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to cite an evaluation of Bulgaria’s competitiveness and business environment. The fundamental elements in the assessment have been benchmarked to the Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum) and Doing Business (World Bank). The general idea is to present the sectors of competitiveness that Bulgaria’s performance is improved and to mention those that the country lags behind. It can be depicted that Bulgaria’s position regarding competitiveness in Balkan region is satisfactory as the country is well beyond the most Balkans countries. On the other hand, things are completely different regarding the position of the country in EU27 since Bulgaria is at the bottom of the ranking of competitiveness. As far as the business environment is concerned, there is no a concrete conclusion since the general picture is rather obscure. Bulgaria’s performance in the regional level is excellent in indices like getting credit and protecting investors while is the worst in getting electricity index. Furthermore, in the index of investor protection index Bulgaria is good beyond many European countries whilst in the index of trading across borders Bulgaria is very low than the EU average due to the thriving of corruption. Bulgaria, a transition economy, runs a period of macroeconomic stability with optimistic messages of forthcoming economic growth despite the global financial crisis. In this direction, policies recommendations are cited aiming to develop the potential of Bulgarian competitiveness and to ameliorate the business environment.