Imports in the 1960-70 period consisted predominantly of machinery and equipment, fuels, raw and processed industrial materials, and raw farm commodities. Imports of foods and industrial consumer goods were limited to about 10 percent per year. Machinery and equipment constituted from 40 to 44 percent of imports; fuels and industrial materials accounted for about one-third; and agricultural raw materials made up the balance.
In the 1960-70 period the country's overall trade balance was negative each year with the exception of 1969 and 1970. The trade deficit for the entire period amounted to 580 million leva, including 530 million leva in the trade with noncommunist countries and 50 million leva in the trade with communist partners. A breakdown of the trade balance by all four trading areas was available only for the 1965-70 period. For that period the overall trade deficit amounted to 278 million leva. Whereas trade with communist and developing countries had positive balances of 148 million leva and 154 million leva, trade with developed Western countries accumulated a deficit of 580 million leva. Almost all of this deficit was incurred in the years 1965 through 1967, when government controls over foreign trade were temporarily relaxed in an aborted economic reform. Under the system of bilateral agreements governing Bulgaria's trade, the surplus in the trade with communist and developing countries cannot be used to offset the deficit with Western trading partners.
Data bearing on the balance of payments have never been published. The Soviet Union has granted substantial loans to Bulgaria since 1946, some of which were used to finance imports from that country. Bulgaria, in turn, has made some loans to developing countries to help finance its exports. A portion of the deficit with Western trading partners may be offset by income from the rising Western European tourist trade, particularly with West Germany. A reputable Western source reported Bulgaria's indebtedness to Western nations to have been US$88 million in 1971, but the basis of this estimate and the degree of its reliability are not known.
CHAPTER 13
AGRICULTURE
In the spring of 1973 the country's political and governmental leadership expressed serious concern about the uneven growth of agriculture over a period of several years. Although wheat production had progressed satisfactorily and reached a record level in 1972, and good results had also been obtained in the cultivation of tobacco and tomatoes—both of which are important export crops—the expansionary trend in fruit growing was reversed in 1968, and cattle raising had stagnated for at least a decade.
The situation was particularly disappointing to the leadership because in 1970 it had embarked on a comprehensive long-range program for raising agricultural productivity and output through the introduction of industrial production methods on the farms. To that end the country's farms were consolidated into 170 agroindustrial complexes intended to bring the advantages of scientific organization, concentration and specialization of production, mechanization, and automation to all phases of agricultural work. Planning for these complexes has been concentrated at the highest government level, and any modification of the obligatory plans requires the approval of the Council of Ministers.