A drop in export by 8% and in import by 10%, a rise in the unemployment rate by 170,000 lost jobs and a growth of the external debt by 2.3 billion Leva – this is the picture of the past year of coronavirus pandemic, said Radosvet Radev, chair of the Bulgarian Industrial Association in an interview for the BNR.

In his words the withholding of investments and the drop in consumption are worrying. Radosvet Radev also predicted cascading bankruptcies of companies after April when the moratorium on credits will be lifted.

According to Krassen Stanchev from the Institute for Market Economics, large fiscal reserves were accumulated which cushioned the blow. He added that almost 1.4 million people have not been included in any support scheme as the measures were accessible to no more than “10% of the economic entities”.