The economy of Bulgaria functions on the principles of the free market, having a large private sector and a smaller public one. Bulgaria is an industrialized high-income country according to the World Bank, and is a member of the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The Bulgarian economy has experienced significant growth (538%), starting from $13.15 billion (nominal, 2000) and reaching estimated gross domestic product of $86 billion (nominal, 2022 est.) or $203 billion (PPP, 2022 est.), GDP per capita of $31,148 (PPP, 2022 est.), average gross monthly salary of 2,009 leva (1,027 euro) (April 2023), and average net monthly salary of $2,102 (adjusted for living costs in PPP) (2022). The national currency is the lev, pegged to the euro at a rate of 1.95583 leva for 1 euro. The lev is the strongest and most stable currency in Eastern Europe.
Top Sectors in Bulgaria
Industry in Bulgaria
Much of Bulgaria's communist era industry was heavy industry, although biochemical’s and computers were significant products beginning in the 1980s. Because Bulgarian industry was configured to Soviet markets, the end of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact caused a severe crisis in the 1990s. After showing its first growth since the communist era in 2000, Bulgaria's industrial sector has grown slowly but steadily in the early 2000s. The performance of individual manufacturing industries has been uneven, however. Food processing and tobacco processing suffered from the loss of Soviet markets and have not maintained standards high enough to compete in Western Europe. Textile processing generally has declined since the mid-1990s, although clothing exports have grown steadily since 2000.
Energy in Bulgaria
Bulgaria relies on imported oil and natural gas (most of which comes from Russia), together with domestic generation of electricity from coal-powered and hydro plants, and the Kozloduy nuclear plant. Bulgaria imports 97% of its natural gas from Russia. The economy remains energy-intensive because conservation practices have developed slowly. The country is a major regional electricity producer. Bulgaria produced 38.07 billion kWh of electricity in 2006 (in comparison, Romania, which has a population nearly three times larger than Bulgaria, produced 51.7 billion kW•h in the same year). The domestic power-generating industry, which was privatized in 2004 by sales to interests from Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States, suffers from obsolete equipment and a weak oversight agency.
Mining and minerals in Bulgaria
Bulgaria's mining industry has declined in the post communist era. Many deposits have remained underdeveloped because of a lack of modern equipment and low funding. Mining has contributed less than 2 percent of GDP and engaged less than 3 percent of the workforce in the early 2000s. Bulgaria has the following estimated deposits of metallic minerals: 207 million tons of iron ore, 127 million tons of manganese ore, 936 million tons of copper ore, 238 million tons of chromium ore, and 150 million tons of gold ore. Several of Bulgaria's minerals are extracted commercially 80 percent of mining is done by open pit excavation. Iron extraction at Kremikovtsi and elsewhere is not sufficient to support the domestic steel industry, but copper, lead, and zinc deposits fully supply the nonferrous metallurgy industries. A British firm has exploratory gold mines at Dikanyite and Gornoseltsi, and a domestic copper and gold mine operates at Chelopech. About 50 nonmetallic minerals are present in significant amounts. Substantial amounts of uranium are present in the Rhodope Mountains, but no extraction has occurred in the last 10 years.
Infrastructure in Bulgaria
Bulgaria's national road network has a total length of 40,231 kilometers (24,998 mi), of which 39,587 kilometers (24,598 mi) are paved. The motorways in Bulgaria, such as Trakia, Hemus, Struma and Maritsa, are being improved and elongated to a total length of 760 km (470 mi) as of November 2015. Railroads are a major mode of freight transportation, although highways carry a progressively larger share of freight. Bulgaria also has 6,238 kilometers (3,876 mi) of railway track and plans to construct a high-speed railway by 2017, at a cost of €3 bln. Sofia and Plovdiv are major air travel hubs, while Varna and Burgas are the principal maritime trade ports.
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