Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

External debt has increased by 2.3 billion Leva in past year of coronavirus pandemic

Photo: archive

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”. 



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

The weather over the weekend will be changeable with clouds, rain and sun

In Saturday an atmospheric disturbance will sweep across the country. Minimum temperatures will reach 8-13° C., for Sofia 10° C. After the nighttime precipitation over Northern Bulgaria, during the day the Northwesterly wind will pick up..

published on 10/10/25 6:25 PM

Bulgarian fruit, nut and vegetable producers to receive €7.4 million from EU

The European Commission will provide around €50 million from the EU agricultural reserve to fruit, nut and vegetable producers in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Romania who have suffered significant damage from adverse weather events,..

published on 10/10/25 5:31 PM
Minister of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov

Fighting the grey economy means fighting labour exploitation, minister of labour says

The fight against the grey sector is directly connected with restricting labour exploitation and with human rights protection, said Minister of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov at the opening of an international conference “Improving..

published on 10/10/25 3:11 PM