style="font-size:15px;"> (202) 387–7969FAX:
(202) 234–7973
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission:
Ambassador William D. MONTGOMERY
embassy:
1 Saborna Street, Sofia
mailing address:
Unit 25402, Sofia; APO AE 09213
telephone:
[359] (2) 88–48-01 through 05
FAX:
[359] (2) 80–19-77
Flag:
three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the
national emblem formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe has
been removed - it contained a rampant lion within a wreath of wheat
ears below a red five-pointed star and above a ribbon bearing the
dates 681 (first Bulgarian state established) and 1944 (liberation
from Nazi control)
@Bulgaria, Economy
Overview: The Bulgarian economy continued its painful adjustment in 1993 from the misdirected development undertaken during four decades of Communist rule. Many aspects of a market economy have been put in place and have begun to function, but much of the economy, especially the industrial sector, has yet to re-establish market links lost with the collapse of other centrally planned Eastern European economies. The prices of many imported industrial inputs, especially energy products, have risen markedly, and falling real wages have not sufficed to restore competitiveness. The trade deficit, exacerbated by UN trade sanctions against neighboring Serbia, grew in late 1993, accelerating the depreciation of the lev. These difficulties in adjusting to the challenges of a more open system, together with a severe drought, caused nonagricultural output to fall by perhaps 8% in 1993. The government plans more extensive privatization in 1994 to improve the management of state enterprises and to encourage foreign investment in ailing state firms. Bulgaria resumed payments on its $10 billion in commercial debt in 1993 following the negotiation of a 50% write-off. An IMF program and second agreement with official creditors on Bulgaria's smaller amount of official debt are required to close the debt deal. National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $33.9 billion (1993 est.) National product real growth rate: −4% (1993 est.) National product per capita: $3,800 (1993 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 64% (1993) Unemployment rate: 16% (1993) Budget: revenues: $14 billion expenditures: $17.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $610 million (1993 est.) Exports: $3.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991) commodities: machinery and equipment 30.6%; agricultural products 24%; manufactured consumer goods 22.2%; fuels, minerals, raw materials, and metals 10.5%; other 12.7% (1991) partners: former CEMA countries 57.7% (USSR 48.6%, Poland 2.1%, Czechoslovakia 0.9%); developed countries 26.3% (Germany 4.8%, Greece 2.2%); less developed countries 15.9% (Libya 2.1%, Iran 0.7%) (1991) Imports: $2.8 billion (f.o.b., 1991) commodities: fuels, minerals, and raw materials 58.7%; machinery and equipment 15.8%; manufactured consumer goods 4.4%; agricultural products 15.2%; other 5.9% partners: former CEMA countries 51.0% (former USSR 43.2%, Poland 3.7%); developed countries 32.8% (Germany 7.0%, Austria 4.7%); less developed countries 16.2% (Iran 2.8%, Libya 2.5%) External debt: $12 billion (1993) Industrial production: growth rate −10% (1993 est.); accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990) Electricity: capacity: 11,500,000 kW production: 45 billion kWh consumption per capita: 5,070 kWh (1992) Industries: machine building and metal working, food processing, chemicals, textiles, building materials, ferrous and nonferrous metals Agriculture: climate and soil conditions support livestock raising and the growing of various grain crops, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco; more than one-third of the arable land devoted to grain; world's fourth-largest tobacco exporter; surplus food producer Illicit drugs: transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route Economic aid: $NA Currency: 1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki Exchange rates: leva (Lv) per US$1 - 32.00 (January 1994), 24.56 (January 1993), 17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March 1991), 0.7446 (November 1990), 0.84 (1989); note - floating exchange rate since February 1991 Fiscal year: calendar year
@Bulgaria, Communications
Railroads:
4,300 km total, all government owned (1987); 4,055 km 1.435-meter
standard gauge, 245 km narrow gauge; 917 km double track; 2,640 km
electrified
Highways:
total:
36,930 km
paved:
33,902 km (including 276 km expressways)
unpaved:
earth 3,028 km (1991)
Inland waterways:
470 km (1987)
Pipelines:
crude oil 193 km; petroleum products 525 km; natural gas 1,400 km
(1992)
Ports:
coastal - Burgas, Varna, Varna West; inland - Ruse, Vidin, and Lom on
the Danube
Merchant marine:
111 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 1,225,996 GRT/1,829,642 DWT,
bulk 48, cargo 30, chemical carrier 4, container 2, oil tanker 16,
passenger-cargo 1, railcar carrier 2, roll-on/roll-off cargo 6,
short-sea passenger 2
note:
Bulgaria owns 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,717 DWT operating
under Liberian registry
Airports:
total:
487
usable:
85
with permanent-surface runways:
32
with runways over 3659 m:
0
with runways 2,440–3,659 m:
21
with runways 1,060–2,439 m:
36
note:
a C-130 can land on a 1,060-m airstrip
Telecommunications:
extensive but antiquated transmission system of coaxial cable and
microwave radio relay; 2.6 million telephones; direct dialing to 36
