Atradius publishes Bulgaria report

​

Following on from its recent country reports on Hungary and Romania, trade credit insurer Atradius (www.atradius.co.uk) has published its latest trading insight report on Bulgaria (https://atradius.co.uk/reports/country-report-cee-bulgaria-2020.html).

With up-to-date insights critical to managing the risks of trade, Atradius is an unrivalled source of information and supports businesses along every stage of their export journey, including how the recession in Bulgaria, triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, reached its preliminary peak in Q2 of 2020 when GDP contracted 10% quarter-on-quarter; how the country’s economy is expected to contract 4.3% in 2020 with real fixed investment down more than 8%, exports down more than 10% and industrial production down almost 5%; and how tourism, usually generating 11% of GDP, is among the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic with tourist arrivals in August 2020 more than two-thirds lower year on year.

In the report, Atradius’ Industries Performance Forecast gives the Agriculture, Chemicals/Pharma, Electronics/ICT and Food sectors a ‘good’ outlook while the Automotive, Consumer Durables, Financial Services, Machines/Engineering, Metals and Paper sectors have a ‘fair’ outlook.  Atradius has forecast a ‘poor’ outlook for the Construction, Services, Steel and Textiles sectors and a ‘bleak’ outlook for the Shipping/Transport sector.

Atradius forecasts it is expecting Bulgaria’s GDP will rebound by almost 4% in 2021 with exports and investments increasing about 7% and 13% respectively, although recovery is largely dependent on the impact and duration of the pandemic in Bulgaria and Europe.