Onwards and upwards for bulgaria

Bulgaria’s economic competitiveness is improving, according to new rankings…

The Bulgarian economy ranks 39th in the world this year according to the annual ranking of different countries' competitiveness conducted by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2008. Bulgaria has been evaluated along with 55 other countries considered world economy leaders.

There are four main evaluation criteria for the international competitiveness of a country: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. According to the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) in Bulgaria, the ranking has contributed ‘a great deal’ to the establishment of a competitiveness policy on the part of the Bulgarian government.

A spokesperson for the CSD commented: “This is the third time Bulgaria has been included in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook ranking, and it is good news as Bulgaria has moved up in the list. “The country was ranked 41 in 2006 and 2007 due to problems created by bureaucratic obstacles for business development, unfair competition, corruption, poor infrastructure and lack of qualified work force”.