Bulgaria
Franchise Association:
http://bulfra.hit.bg
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.
Geography
Area: 110,910 sq. km. (slightly larger than Tennessee).
Major cities: Capital--Sofia 1.2 million.
Others: Plovdiv--368,568, Varna--349,482.
People
Population (2007): 7,640,238.
Growth rate (2007): -0.50%.
Ethnic groups (2001): Bulgarian 83.94%, Turkish 9.42%, Roma 4.68%, and other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian).
Religions (2001): Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, Roman Catholic 0.6%, Protestant 0.5%, others.
Language: Bulgarian 84.5%, other 15.5%.
Health: Life expectancy (2006)--male 68.68 years; female 76.13 years. Infant mortality rate (2006) --19.85 deaths/1,000 live births.
Work force (2007 est.): 4.817 million. Agriculture--11%; industry--32.7%; services--32% (3rd qtr. 2004 est.).
Economy
GDP (2007 est.): $41 billion.
Real GDP growth: 6.2% (2007); 6.3% (2006); 6.2% (2005); 6.6% (2004); 5.0% (2003).
Per capita GDP (PPP, 2007 est.): $11,300.
Inflation rate: 12.5% (2007), 6.5% (2006); 5% (2005); 6% (2004); 5.6% (2003).
Unemployment rate: 7.7% (2007 average), 6.62% (November 2007), 9.61% (2006 average); 11.5% (2005); 12.7% (2004 average); 14.25% (2003 average).
Natural resources: Bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, and timber.
Official exchange rate: Lev per $1 U.S.=1.42 (2007 average); 1.56 (2006 average); 1.57 (2005 average); 1.58 (2004 average); 1.73 (2003 average).
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 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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NewsThe worldwide chain of McDonald's fast food restaurants plans to invest around US $1 bn into developing its franchises in Europe next year, the Reuters newswire reported. At the same time, they will pay greater attention to developing countries. "The potential for growth in Central and Eastern Europe is huge. We have only opened 350 restaurants in Ukraine, Poland and Romania, which have a combined population of more than 100 million and flourishing economies", says Executive Director Ralf Alvarez. There are 63 McDonald's restaurants in Ukraine in 19 cities. The total amount of investments since they began operating in Ukraine (since 1997) exceeded US $100 mn. McDonald's Ukraine has around 5,000 employees across the country. Reuters Sep 2008
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