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Subprime lending contracts tangibly in Q1 2010
Assets of fast-loan companies decreased by some BGN 480 million or 15% in a year. Non-performing loans picked up – from 10% of total credit as of end-March 2009 to 15% a year later. More than 80% of the credit is extended to households, either for consumer or house purchases. About 12% of the total credit is short-term a... -
Car sales and retail trade during recession
Meanwhile, the slowdown of economic activity is visible not only from the decline of durables’ sales but also from the contraction of retail trade in general. The turnover of retail trade, excluding cars and motorcycles, fell by 9% y-o-y. However, food sales decreased only marginally, as food has low demand income elasticity. On... -
Fiscal data for February shows alarming disbalance
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Personal assets in Bulgaria, Q1 2010
Under rising uncertainty about employment and income in the context of the still high real interest rate on deposits the saving rate in Bulgaria reached 20% of GDP by the end of 2009, compared with 16% in 2008. Bulgarians have 59 thousand deposits in banks, in excess of 50 000 leva, as their total sum amounted to 6.9 billion (or... -
Political Talks Aim at Higher Tax-Insurance Burden in Bulgaria
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Investments in high-risk assets stabilize
Positive impact on individual investments in shares of Bulgarian public companies is coming from the upward price dynamics in the beginning of 2010 despite the lack of incentives from monetary or fiscal authorities. In this line of thoughts the stock exchange dynamics will be determined mainly by the attitude of external specula... -
Housing prices in 2009
The decelerating negative growth rates probably signal that housing prices will hit the bottom in the coming months. 12 districts registered appreciation of housing in Q4 2009, although the number of districts with falling prices (17) still prevails. A closer look at the data, however, reveals that most of the cities with positi... -
The outlook for the sovereign rating of Bulgaria
Hence, many of the initially skeptical foreign analysts have implicitly admitted their mistakes in determining the real economic and political challenges before the Bulgarian economy amidst a global financial meltdown. Exactly a year ago credit rating agencies were worried by the supposed inability of the Bulgarian economy to re...