Bulgaria - International trade

As a consequence of the foreign debt incurred in the late 1980s, Bulgaria suffered from declining markets and negative trade balances during the early 1990s. Although dependent on imports as heavily as ever, Bulgaria showed improvement after 1994 as the lev weakened, making exports more affordable in foreign markets; trade with former Soviet republics was revived, and trade with the EU increased. However, after 1997, the Yugoslav embargo , together with the government's restrictive policies aimed at financial stabilization,

Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Bulgaria
	exports	Imports
1975	N/A	5.949
1980	N/A	N/A
1985	13.339	13.657
1990	4.822	4.710
1995	5.354	5.657
1998	4.300	4.979
SOURCE: International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics Yearbook 1999.

brought a downturn in the balance of trade. In 1998, exports of goods stood at $4.293 billion and imports at $4.609 billion, generating a current account deficit of $316 million. This trade deficit mushroomed to $1.5 billion in 1999, when Bulgaria imported $5.3 billion in goods while exporting just $3.8 billion.

An accumulating trade deficit would badly affect Bulgaria's ability to meet its financial obligations in the future, but June 2000 was the tenth month in succession to see an increase in exports. Exports for that month reached $393.6 million, an increase of 21.8 percent over 1999, attributed to the recovery of EU economies in general and the rise in the international price of Bulgarian exports. Exports to the United Kingdom (UK) rose by 40 percent, due to the strong pound against the weak euro, which is linked to the lev. Export to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries rose by almost 45 percent, with most going to Turkey. Exports to Balkan countries, mainly Serbia and Macedonia, boomed after the Kosovo war in 1999, but those to other member countries of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) rose by less than 6 percent and those to the former Soviet Union fell by 17 percent, with exports to Russia falling by one-third.

Imports increased by 23 percent over the previous year, to $511.2 million in June 2000. Over 50 percent of the rise was due to higher oil prices. Imports of industrial raw materials rose by more than 8 percent and imports associated with the recovering metallurgical sector grew, while those required by the food sector fell. Investment also rose in 2000, but the greatest growth, 56 percent, was in energy, mainly imported from Russia. The EU is now the main supplier of consumer and investment goods to Bulgaria. Imports from Balkan countries expanded impressively a year after the Kosovo war.

A fairly active trade-show calendar attracts firms from many countries. Major export commodities included textiles, clothing and footwear; base metals and metal products; minerals and fuels; food, beverages, and tobacco; machinery and equipment; chemicals and plastics; furniture and household appliances. Italy accounted for 14 percent of exports in 1998. Germany (10 percent), Greece (9 percent), Turkey (8 percent), and Russia (5 percent) were other major partners. Together, EU countries accounted for 52 percent of exports.

Major import commodities included fuels, minerals, and raw materials; metals and ores; textiles and apparel; machinery and equipment; automobiles; chemicals and plastics; and food. Major import partners were Russia, accounting for more than 20 percent of all imports in 1998, Germany (15 percent), Italy (9 percent), Greece (6 percent), France (5 percent), and the United States (4 percent). Together, EU countries accounted for more than 48 percent of imports.