INVESTMENTS IN BULGARIA

The Bulgarian economy is one of the constantly growing economies in the Balkans. The per capita income for 2014 amounts to 17.900 dollars, however the underground economy flourishes and therefore the GDP in terms of purchasing power is significantly higher than the official ($ 129,1 billion compared to $ 55,82 billion).
The unemployment is relatively low (11,2%) and the workforce, over the last years has improved in terms of quality, attitude and skills.
The country's exports are approximately at the same level with the Greek while the imports are almost half of the Greek, forming a marginally negative balance of trade.
The country is a producer and exporter of electric power mainly, because of nuclear plants that it has, although recently it has started to pay special attention to the Renewable Energy Sources.
Despite the fact that foreign investment in the country do not face currency risk, due to the pegged exchange ration of the local Lev (BGN) with the euro (ratio 1:1,954 in 2015), the lending rates of the local commercial banks range on an average of 11.14%.
The taxation of business profits is 10% (one of the lowest levels in the EU), the maximum level of income tax is at 15% and correspondingly the maximum level of VAT at 20%.
Greek investors are common in the country and the sectors which have drawn their greatest interest are the real estate, the energy, the industry, the tourism and the trade.

 Moreover, the attraction of foreign investors is a major priority of the Bulgarian government, which has reformed both the investment and tax legislation in order to make them more attractive to foreign investors.
In the Index of Economic Freedom, the country was ranked 55th in 2015. According to the above indicator, despite the promotion of major reforms, the dynamic growth is hampered by bureaucracy, phenomena of corruption and the problems arising from the functioning of the judiciary system.
In accordance with the relevant legislation, foreign citizens may hold up to 100% of the capital of a Bulgarian company.
The procedure for the establishment of the company is simple and includes the following steps:
a)    Registration of the company in the commercial register (with no need for a court decision), in accordance to the procedure that has been laid down for each type of company by the Commercial Register Act in 2008.
The statute, which is approved prior the registration of the company, should include those items which are considered obligatory for this type of company, according to Bulgarian law.
The time that is required to complete all procedures until the final registration of the company in the register, is estimated at around 1 month.
b)    After the one-stop commercial register, the company receives a dedicated code (Unified Identification Code), which serves any public purpose (social insurance, statistical, fiscal etc) and no additional registration is required any longer.