IN MARCH, FOREIGN COMPANIES EXPORTED TWICE AS MUCH CAPITAL FROM BULGARIA

In March, foreign companies withdrew a total of €363 mln from Bulgaria, showed data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). The amount is twice as large as the respective figure in the same month last year, when exported funds amounted to €162 mln. The capitals are mainly used to cover debts of foreign parent companies.

Moreover, the statistics reported that no investments actually entered the country in the first quarter of the year. Net direct investments in Bulgaria in the first quarter of the year were negative (€5.1 mln), given that they amounted to €52.7 mln in January-March 2010. Most of the funds were transferred to Germany (€185 mln), the Netherlands (€126 mln) and Japan (€49.7 mln), while the largest net direct investments in the country came from Austria (€213.2 mln) and from Cyprus (€40.5 mln).

In March alone, foreign companies and individuals exported deposits amounting to €206 mln and for the entire first quarter of the year the exported funds stood at €487 mln. The transport sector attracted the largest investments in the period (€429.1 mln), followed by construction (€22.4 mln), while the largest net payments were realised in the processing industry (€476.8 mln).

BNB experts even reported that, in the first quarter of the year, the balance of payments, which comprises the capital flows to and from Bulgaria, was negative, recording a deficit of €664.7 mln, or it was nearly 16% lower compared to the respective figure in January-March last year. A current account surplus was registered, which stood at €87 mln in March and reached €252.7 mln in the first quarter of the year, compared to €554.2 mln of deficit a year earlier. The current account includes foreign trade receipts, revenues from payments of services carried out, and the money, which Bulgarians working abroad are sending here. In the first quarter of the year the trade balance surplus reached €47 mln.