The next phase of Bulgarian postwar economic development
included the First Five-Year Plan. This plan made an important
contribution to the pattern of Bulgaria's socialist economic
development by creating the institutional apparatus for long-term
industrial planning. Already in 1945, the wartime Directorate for
Civilian Mobilization had been replaced by a Supreme Economic
Council that extended the previous organization's authority over
resource allocation. Now the state's existing economic ministries
were subdivided into one ministry for each branch of production. By
January 1948, a separate and politically powerful State Production
Committee (SPC) was established. By October 1948, representatives
of the new SPC and the existing Main Directorate for Statistics had
set out the criteria for calculating plan fulfillment.
The announced targets for the First Five-Year Plan (1949-53)
confirmed the economic priorities indicated by the previous TwoYear Plan. Agriculture was to receive 17 percent of new investment
and industry 47 percent. Gross industrial output was to grow by 119
percent, primarily because of a 220 percent increase in heavy
industry. Light industry and agriculture were to raise output by 75
and 59 percent, respectively. The rapid collectivization and
mechanization of agriculture was expected to achieve the last
target while freeing labor for industry, construction, and
transportation. Because about 25 percent of the country's national
income was invested in the economic infrastructure, the standard of
living remained low.
In 1952 the plan was declared fulfilled a year ahead of
schedule, but statistics on the period were too incomplete and
contradictory to evaluate its actual results. Substantial
bottlenecks existed in material inputs and outputs. Agriculture
received less investment than planned (only 13 percent), and showed
no growth through the period (see
table 12, Appendix). The effect
of low agricultural output rippled through other sectors of the
economy, hindering production in related industries. Substantial
material and technical aid came from the Soviet Union, but with a
steep price: Bulgaria was expected to sell products to the Soviet
market at below-market prices, and the arrogance of Soviet economic
advisers caused serious resentment.
Continuing problems with excessive labor turnover forced the
regime to cut back the targets for heavy industry in the Second
Five-Year Plan (1953-57), and average annual industrial growth fell
from 20.7 to 12.7 percent during that period. This was the first of
several dramatic swings that characterized Bulgarian economic
development throughout the postwar period. The average annual
growth rate of agriculture increased from negative 0.9 percent to
4.9 percent in the Second Five-Year Plan, but the same indicator
for the overall NMP dropped from 8.4 to 7.8 percent. The industrial
share of the NMP exceeded that of agriculture for the first time in
this period.
Two important economic events occurred at the Seventh Party
Congress of the BCP, which met in mid-1958. The party declared that
Bulgaria was the first country besides the Soviet Union to achieve
full collectivization of agriculture (estimates put the figure at
92 percent at this time), and it announced the goals for the Third
Five-Year Plan. That plan, which began in 1958, set relatively
moderate initial quotas that included substantially more production
of consumer goods. In 1959, however, a BCP decision to make a
"Great Leap Forward" (borrowed by the press from Mao Zedong's
concurrent program for the Chinese economy) drastically raised
quotas: by 1965 industrial output was to be three to four times the
1957 level, and by 1961 agriculture was to produce three times as
much as it had in 1957. To achieve the latter goal, agriculture was
again reorganized. Amalgamation of collective farms cut their
number by 70 percent, after which average farm acreage was second
only to the Soviet Union among countries in Eastern Europe. The
grandiose Zhivkov Theses, as the quota program came to be known,
were tempered noticeably by 1961, when the economy's inability to
achieve such growth was obvious to all.
Meanwhile, throughout the late 1950s urban unemployment had
been a major problem. The new collectivization drive brought
another wave of peasant migration to urban centers. Compounding
this problem was a cutback in Soviet imports of industrial inputs,
which created some excess capacity in heavy industry. Thus, the
intensified industrialization of the Third Five-Year Plan also
aimed at absorbing surplus labor.
Trade relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe also
played a large role in the investment priorities of the Third FiveYear Plan. Food processing and agriculture were earmarked for
greatest growth, because these sectors, together with chemical
fertilizers and small electric equipment, were now areas of
Bulgarian responsibility in the plans of the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance
(Comecon--see Glossary)
for greater East
European trade. After a reduction in 1955, Bulgaria faced greatly
increased export obligations to the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and the
German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in the late 1950s. The
latter two could provide badly needed industrial machinery in
return, and the USSR provided vital raw materials and energy.
The party leadership initially resolved to fulfill the third
plan, like the first, within three or four years; although none of
its goals were reached, the party declared fulfillment in 1960, and
Zhivkov survived the popular disillusionment and economic upheaval
caused by his totally unrealistic theses. At that point, the twelve
years of the second phase of Bulgarian postwar economic development
had wrought major structural changes in the Bulgarian economy.
Industry's share of the NMP increased from 23 percent to 48 percent
as agriculture's share fell from 59 percent to 27 percent. By 1960
the value produced by heavy industry matched that of light
industry, although food processing for export also grew rapidly.
Throughout the second phase, budget expenditures consisted
primarily of reinvestment in sectors given initial priority.
Meanwhile, the completion of collectivization had shifted 678,000
peasants, about 20 percent of the active labor force, into
industrial jobs. The average annual increase in industrial
employment peaked at 11.5 percent between 1955 and 1960.
|
Background | | The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. The country joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.
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Location | | Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey
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Area(sq km) | | total: 110,879 sq km
land: 108,489 sq km
water: 2,390 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 43 00 N, 25 00 E
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Land boundaries(km) | | total: 1,808 km
border countries: Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia 318 km, Turkey 240 km
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Coastline(km) | | 354 km
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Climate | | temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Musala 2,925 m
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Natural resources | | bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 29.94%
permanent crops: 1.9%
other: 68.16% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 5,880 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 19.4 cu km (2005)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 6.92 cu km/yr (3%/78%/19%)
per capita: 895 cu m/yr (2003)
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Natural hazards | | earthquakes; landslides
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Environment - current issues | | air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes
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Environment - international agreements | | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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Geography - note | | strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia
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Population | | 7,204,687 (July 2009 est.)
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Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 13.8% (male 509,544/female 484,816)
15-64 years: 68.5% (male 2,426,060/female 2,508,772)
65 years and over: 17.7% (male 518,711/female 756,784) (2009 est.)
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Median age(years) | | total: 41.4 years
male: 39.2 years
female: 43.6 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | -0.79% (2009 est.)
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Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 9.51 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 14.31 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
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Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -3.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 71% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: -0.3% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female
total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 17.87 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 21.28 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 14.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 73.09 years
male: 69.48 years
female: 76.91 years (2009 est.)
|
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Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 1.41 children born/woman (2009 est.)
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Nationality | | noun: Bulgarian(s)
adjective: Bulgarian
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Ethnic groups(%) | | Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001 census)
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Religions(%) | | Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other Christian 1.2%, other 4% (2001 census)
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Languages(%) | | Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)
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Country name | | conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria
conventional short form: Bulgaria
local long form: Republika Balgariya
local short form: Balgariya
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Government type | | parliamentary democracy
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Capital | | name: Sofia
geographic coordinates: 42 41 N, 23 19 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
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Administrative divisions | | 28 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Khaskovo, Kurdzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Shumen, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofiya, Sofiya-Grad, Stara Zagora, Turgovishte, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Yambol
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Constitution | | adopted 12 July 1991
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Legal system | | civil and criminal law based on Roman law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
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Suffrage | | 18 years of age; universal
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Executive branch | | chief of state: President Georgi PARVANOV (since 22 January 2002); Vice President Angel MARIN (since 22 January 2002)
head of government: Prime Minister Boyko BORISSOV (since 27 July 2009); Deputy Prime Ministers Simeon DJANKOV and Tsvetan TSVETANOV (since 27 July 2009);
cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and elected by the National Assembly
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 22 and 29 October 2006 (next to be held in 2011); chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) elected by the National Assembly; deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime minister and elected by the National Assembly
election results: Georgi PARVANOV reelected president; percent of vote - Georgi PARVANOV 77.3%, Volen SIDEROV 22.7%; Boyko BORISSOV elected prime minister, result of legislative vote - 162 to 77 with 1 abstension
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Legislative branch | | unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sabranie (240 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 5 July 2009 (next to be held mid-2013)
election results: percent of vote by party - GERB 39.7%, BSP 17.7%, MRF 14.4%, ATAKA 9.4%, Blue Coalition 6.8%, RZS 4.1%, other 7.9%; seats by party - GERB 116, BSP 40, MRF 38, ATAKA 21, Blue Coalition 15, RZS 10
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Judicial branch | | independent judiciary comprised of judges, prosecutors and investigating magistrates who are appointed, promoted, demoted, and dismissed by a 25-member Supreme Judicial Council (consists of the chairmen of the two Supreme Courts, the Chief Prosecutor, and 22 members, half of whom are elected by the National Assembly and the other half by the bodies of the judiciary for a 5-year term in office); three levels of case review; 182 courts of which two Supreme Courts act as the last instance on civil and criminal cases (the Supreme Court of Cassation) and appeals of government decisions (the Supreme Administrative Court)
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria or CITUB; Podkrepa Labor Confederation
other: numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest groups with various agendas
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International organization participation | | ACCT, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EU, FAO, G- 9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NATO, NSG, OAS (observer), OIF, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (associate affiliate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
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Flag description | | three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the pan-Slavic white-blue-red colors were modified by substituting a green band (representing freedom) for the blue
note: the national emblem, formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe, has been removed
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Economy - overview | | Bulgaria, a former Communist country that entered the EU on 1 January 2007, has experienced strong growth since a major economic downturn in 1996. Successive governments have demonstrated a commitment to economic reforms and responsible fiscal planning, but have failed so far to rein in rising inflation and large current account deficits. Bulgaria has averaged more than 6% growth since 2004, attracting significant amounts of foreign direct investment, but corruption in the public administration, a weak judiciary, and the presence of organized crime remain significant challenges.
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GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $93.98 billion (2008 est.)
$88.66 billion (2007 est.)
$83.48 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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|
GDP (official exchange rate) | | $49.9 billion (2008)
|
|
GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 6% (2008 est.)
6.2% (2007 est.)
6.3% (2006 est.)
|
|
GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $12,900 (2008 est.)
$12,100 (2007 est.)
$11,300 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
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GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 7.3%
industry: 30.5%
services: 62.2% (2008 est.)
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Labor force | | 2.67 million (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 7.5%
industry: 35.5%
services: 57% (2007 est.)
|
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Unemployment rate(%) | | 6.3% (2008 est.)
7.7% (2007 est.)
|
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Population below poverty line(%) | | 14.1% (2003 est.)
|
|
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 25.5% (2007)
|
|
Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 30.7 (2007)
26.4 (2001)
|
|
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 33.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
|
|
Budget | | revenues: $22.24 billion
expenditures: $20.74 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 12.3% (2008 est.)
9.8% (2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of money | | $14.29 billion (31 December 2008)
$15.58 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of quasi money | | $19.67 billion (31 December 2008)
$17.03 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of domestic credit | | $32.04 billion (31 December 2008)
$25.18 billion (31 December 2007)
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|
Market value of publicly traded shares | | $8.858 billion (31 December 2008)
$21.79 billion (31 December 2007)
$10.32 billion (31 December 2006)
|
|
Economic aid - recipient | | $742 million (2005-06 est.)
|
|
Public debt(% of GDP) | | 14.1% of GDP (2008 est.)
41.9% of GDP (2004 est.)
|
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Agriculture - products | | vegetables, fruits, tobacco, wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets; livestock
|
|
Industries | | electricity, gas, water; food, beverages, tobacco; machinery and equipment, base metals, chemical products, coke, refined petroleum, nuclear fuel
|
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Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 1.5% (2008 est.)
|
|
Current account balance | | -$12.65 billion (2008 est.)
-$8.716 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports | | $22.71 billion (2008 est.)
$18.58 billion (2007 est.)
|
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Exports - commodities(%) | | clothing, footwear, iron and steel, machinery and equipment, fuels
|
|
Exports - partners(%) | | Greece 9.9%, Germany 9.2%, Turkey 8.9%, Italy 8.5%, Romania 7.2%, Belgium 5.9%, France 4.1% (2008)
|
|
Imports | | $35.64 billion (2008 est.)
$28.65 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Imports - commodities(%) | | machinery and equipment; metals and ores; chemicals and plastics; fuels, minerals, and raw materials
|
|
Imports - partners(%) | | Russia 14.6%, Germany 11.8%, Italy 7.9%, Ukraine 7.3%, Romania 5.6%, Turkey 5.5%, Greece 5.4%, Austria 4.1% (2008)
|
|
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $17.93 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$17.54 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Debt - external | | $51.46 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$42.62 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $42.91 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$33.91 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $1.292 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$559 million (31 December 2007 est.)
|
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Exchange rates | | leva (BGN) per US dollar - 1.3171 (2008 est.), 1.4366 (2007), 1.5576 (2006), 1.5741 (2005), 1.5751 (2004)
|
|
Currency (code) | | lev (BGN)
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Telephones - main lines in use | | 2.258 million (2008)
|
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Telephones - mobile cellular | | 10.633 million (2008)
|
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Telephone system | | general assessment: an extensive but antiquated telecommunications network inherited from the Soviet era; quality has improved; the Bulgaria Telecommunications Company's fixed-line monopoly terminated in 2005 when alternative fixed-line operators were given access to its network; a drop in fixed-line connections in recent years has been more than offset by a sharp increase in mobile-cellular telephone use fostered by multiple service providers; the number of cellular telephone subscriptions now greatly exceeds the population
domestic: a fairly modern digital cable trunk line now connects switching centers in most of the regions; the others are connected by digital microwave radio relay
international: country code - 359; submarine cable provides connectivity to Ukraine and Russia; a combination submarine cable and land fiber-optic system provides connectivity to Italy, Albania, and Macedonia; satellite earth stations - 3 (1 Intersputnik in the Atlantic Ocean region, 2 Intelsat in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions) (2008)
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Internet country code | | .bg
|
|
Internet users | | 2.647 million (2008)
|
|
Airports | | 212 (2009)
|
|
Pipelines(km) | | gas 2,926 km; oil 339 km; refined products 156 km (2008)
|
|
Roadways(km) | | total: 40,231 km
paved: 39,587 km (includes 331 km of expressways)
unpaved: 644 km (2005)
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Ports and terminals | | Burgas, Varna
|
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Military branches | | Bulgarian Armed Forces: Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Bulgarian Air Forces (Bulgarski Voennovazdyshni Sily, BVVS) (2009)
|
|
Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 18-27 years of age for voluntary military service; as of May 2006, 67% of the Bulgarian Army comprised of professional soldiers; conscription ended January 2008; Air Forces and Naval Forces became fully professional at the end of 2006 (2008)
|
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Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,701,979
females age 16-49: 1,691,092 (2008 est.)
|
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Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,351,312
females age 16-49: 1,381,017 (2009 est.)
|
|
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 38,263
female: 36,374 (2009 est.)
|
|
Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 2.6% of GDP (2005 est.)
|
|
Disputes - international | | none
|
|
Electricity - production(kWh) | | 40.25 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 47.8%
hydro: 8.1%
nuclear: 44.1%
other: 0% (2001)
|
|
Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 31.08 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 8.441 billion kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 3.097 billion kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 3,357 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 124,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 76,570 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 189,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 15 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 300 million cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 3.4 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008)
|
|
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 5.663 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 346 (2001 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - deaths | | 100 (2001 est.)
|
|
Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98.2%
male: 98.7%
female: 97.7% (2001 census)
|
|
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years) | | total: 14 years
male: 13 years
female: 14 years (2006)
|
|
Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 4.5% of GDP (2005)
|
