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Industry Watch released its periodic report - Wealth and the Finance Industry in Bulgaria- 1st Quarter 2007.
Financial intermediation in Bulgaria kept deepening at a fast pace in the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. The pace of wealth accumulation accelerated strongly to 24.6% annually as we keep the outlook for strong wealth expansion in 2007. While the households’ investments in government securities sharply contracted in Q4 2... -
Housing market in Bulgaria and the EU influence
The EU accession has already influenced the Bulgarian housing market. Total household credit and housing credit in particular continued to increase in March with the housing credit interest rates remaining almost unchanged. In line with our forecast the average prices per sq. m. in regional cities rose by 9,3% as price changes i... -
Industry Watch released its regular report on cost of labor (Biggest Cities Review, Winter 2007).
From the demand standpoint, state administration would “steal” not that many specialists but rather a lot of people suitable to medium skill-set positions – i.e. personnel that is not required to possess any specialized knowledge, but rather basic skills like good communication, certain knowledge of English, quick adaptability, ... -
Wages in state-owned enterprises and macroeconomic stability
The average monthly wages in state-owned enterprises in 2006 grew considerably faster than average wages in the country and are up to 30 % higher. However, the pressure for increasing wages of public sector employees has been recently accelerated. The lack of a common procedure for wage regulation would lead to unrelated to mark... -
Industry Watch poll of forecasters envisages 5.7% economic growth in 2008.
2007 Growth RatesGDP 5.8Consumer prices 4.9Investments 16.4Exports 9.9Imports 13.2Budget surplus (% of GDP) 2.32008 Growth RatesGDP 5.7Consumer prices 3.9Investments 15.0Exports 10.2Imports 12.1Budget surplus (% of GDP) 1.6... -
State Employment Limits Labor Supply of the Medium Skill-Set.
Over 37% of the registered employment is at positions, which might be termed “medium skillset”. The overall number of “basic” and “medium skillset” positions at least 56% of total registered employment.Thus, investments in new capacities will be dependent primarily on the access to labor for basic jobs (unqualified) and for medi... -
April Update of Industry Watch Cost-of-Living Index.
Comparison of cost of living in biggest cities (Index, Sofia = 100) Sofia 100.0 Varna 96.7 Burgas 93.0 Haskovo 88.8 Plovdiv 86.8Stara Zagora 85.7Veliko Tarnovo 85.6 Russe 81.5Pleven 79.5 Source: Industry Watch with data from Vitosha Research. ... -
Psychology of Inflation.
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