Low Bulgarian consumer demand hampers corporate results

The low consumer demand in Bulgaria is hindering the growth of the country’s exports, thus impeding the business of local companies that rely mainly on domestic sales, showed the nine-months earnings reports of Bulgaria's public companies."Companies that sell in Bulgaria are still in poor condition, in particular small and medium enterprises, which shows that things on the domestic market are not good at all,” Hristo Vladimirov, analyst at TBI Invest, said as quoted by Dnevnik.

Vladimirov highlighted the weakened performance of Bulgarian American Credit Bank, which provides loans predominantly to small and medium enterprises, as the reason for the weak results of domestic firms, as well as the fact that corporate credits accounted for the largest share of overdue loans in the period. Most of the companies operating on the domestic market reported either stagnant or declining turnovers and profits for January to September, or insufficient increase against a lower 2009 comparable basis, when the crisis had a more significant effect on the economy.

News source: Dnevnik a.m. link: article