General
Bulgaria is situated in south-east Europe in the Balkan region. It shares borders with Greece and Turkey to the south, Macedonia and Serbia to the west, and Romania to the north, and has a 354 km Black Sea coastline to the east.

Terrain and climate
Bulgaria is a land of contrasting terrain characterised by a variety of plains, plateaus, hills, mountains, basins, gorges, and deep river valleys. The Rila and Pirin mountain ranges in the west of the country are the most outstanding topographical feature. Mount Musala, standing at 2,925 m in the Rila Mountains, is the highest peak in the Balkan Peninsula. Vihren peak in the Pirin Mountains comes a close second at 2,914 metres to the north and south east are hilly lowlands.

Bulgarian inhabitants experience hot summers and cold winters.
Snowfall is plentiful throughout the winter but the Mediterranean influence yields dry summers.

Capital city
Sofia is Bulgaria’s capital and is situated in the west of the country, only 55 km from the Serbian border. Standing at the foot of Mount Vitosha, Sofia is Bulgaria’s nucleus of culture, government and business. The city is the country’s largest with a population of 1.3 million (2006 estimate).

The path to Europe
Bulgaria has enjoyed growing macroeconomic stability since the late 1990s and, having privatised almost all of its state-run entities, entered the European Union on 1 January 2007. After the economic collapse in 1996, a new government committed to economic reform was elected and a new era embarked upon. Inflation has stabilised and GDP has grown steadily to a remarkable 6.5 % in 2006. Bulgaria had one of the lowest levels of FDI in Central and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, but in 2003 and 2004 it boasted the highest inflows of investment in the region. Whilst Bulgaria’s economic capability is developing at an exceptional rate, future prospects rely on interaction with other EU member states.

The Bulgarian currency, the lev, was fixed against the German Deutschmark through a currency board arrangement (it is now fixed against the euro). GDP grew at an average of 4.5% between 1998 and 2005 and reached 6.5 % by 2006. In 2004 alone, foreign companies invested $3.47 billion.

European Union and the future
Since 1989, Bulgaria’s major trading partners have shifted from the CIS countries to EU member states, and recent economic strength has been heavily reliant on European investment. 56 % of Bulgaria’s trade is with the EU, principally with Germany, Italy and Greece.
Bulgaria joined the EU on 1 January 2007 having been omitted from the list of countries invited to join in 2004. The Bulgarian Government plans to replace the lev with the euro in 2010. However, experts say this might actually happen as late as 2012.

Bulgaria continues to attract high levels of foreign investment.
In 2006 the country attracted the highest levels of FDI in Eastern Europe. In early 2007 the government lowered corporate tax rates to 10 per cent, among the lowest in Europe, a move which is expected to attract additional investment.

Source: Bulgaria Trade Guide – Second Edition