BCCI presents the results from the EUROCHAMBRES Economic Survey 2016

Bulgarian companies express moderate optimism for 2016, and do not expect sharp growth in the economy, according to the business climate survey “EUROCHAMBRES Economic Survey 2016”. The survey was held according to EUROCHAMBRES’ approved methodology for the 23^rd consecutive year among 59 000 European companies. In Bulgaria only BCCI studies the opinion of the business, our country taking part in the initiative for the 17^th time. The survey in was conducted among 492 Bulgarian companies – members of BCCI.

At a press conference, the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov presented the results of the survey with an emphasis on the results of the Bulgarian companies in 2015 and their expectations for the development of the business climate, their sales revenue, employment and investment levels in 2016.

The general impression is that next year will be better than the current 2015. An improvement in business climate in 2016 is expected by 43% of the interviewed companies. Parallel to the positive expectations for 2016, there is an uncertainty among business leaders regarding the business environment, in particular in relation to the chance of introducing surprising changes which may increase the burden for businesses.

For another year, the expectations of managers for export sales are better, unlike their expectations for domestic sales. More than half of the surveyed companies expect to increase their revenues abroad in 2016, but the exports rate depend mostly on the global environment.

The smallest share of positive expectations among businesses is for domestic sales and employment levels in 2016. It can be prognosticated that the low growth of domestic consumption will be preserved.

The results for employment in 2015 are good, but positive expectations for its growth in 2016 are weak. In 2015, more than 1/3 of companies created new jobs, while in 2016 around 1/4 of the asked companies expect to hire additional staff.

The results of the survey show slight increase regarding the investment forecasts – 36% of the companies participating in the survey expect to increase their investment in 2016. Still, it is too early to forecast significant investments from Bulgarian companies.

In general, Bulgarian companies’ expectations for 2016 show an improvement, which suggests a moderate growth of Bulgarian economy, but still far from its pre-2008 levels.

The observations of the survey show that the main expected difficulties in 2016 will be related to the prices of energy and raw materials – cited as major obstacles by 48% of the companies. In 2015, approximately the same share of businesses (44%) listed this problem as the main obstacle. The increase of energy prices directly affects the results and the expectations of companies. There is a significant difference between Bulgaria and the other countries in this respect – while for the European countries energy and raw material prices are expected to be one of the least important factors in 2016, in Bulgaria the volatility of the prices has a negative impact.

The lack of qualified personnel is also among the main obstacles for 2016 according to one-third of employers.

The conditions of the economic policy in 2016 are also among the main difficulties, cited by 29% of the surveyed companies, as well as labour costs – according to 28% of the companies. The administrative increases of the minimum insurable thresholds and the minimum wage have an impact on the opinions of companies. In 2015, Bulgaria remains among the countries with highest growth of labour costs in the European Union.

For additional information: http://www.eurochambres.eu