*Bulgaria, Government
Names:
conventional long form:
Republic of Bulgaria
conventional short form:
Bulgaria
Digraph:
BU
Type:
emerging democracy
Capital:
Sofia
Administrative divisions:
9 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo,
Lovech, Mikhaylovgrad, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sofiya, Varna
Independence:
22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)
Constitution:
adopted 12 July 1991
Legal system:
based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday:
3 March (1878)
Political parties and leaders:
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Filip DIMITROV, chairman, an alliance of
approximately 20 pro-Democratic parties including United Democratic Center,
Democratic Party, Radical Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Union,
Alternative Social Liberal Party, Republican Party, Civic Initiative
Movement, Union of the Repressed, and about a dozen other groups; Movement
for Rights and Freedoms (ethnic Turkish party) (MRF), Ahmed DOGAN, chairman;
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan VIDENOV, chairman
Other political or pressure groups:
Ecoglasnost; Podkrepa (Support) Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union;
Bulgarian Democratic Youth (formerly Communist Youth Union); Confederation
of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB); Nationwide Committee for
Defense of National Interests; Peasant Youth League; Bulgarian Agrarian
National Union - United (BZNS); Bulgarian Democratic Center; "Nikola Petkov"
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization - Union of Macedonian Societies (IMRO-UMS); numerous regional,
ethnic, and national interest groups with various agendas
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Elections:
President:
last held January 1992; results - Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote
National Assembly:
last held 13 October 1991; results - UDF 34%, BSP 33%, MRF 7.5%; seats -
(240 total) UDF 110, BSP 106, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24
Executive branch: president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister), three
deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court, Constitutional Court
Leaders:
Chief of State:
President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Vice President Blaga
Nikolova DIMITROVA (since NA)
*Bulgaria, Government
Head of Government:
Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Lyuben Borisov BEROV
(since 30 December 1992); Deputy Chairmen of the Council of Ministers
(Deputy Prime Ministers) Valentin KARABASHEV, Neycho NEEV, and Evgeniy
MATINCHEV (since 30 December 1992)
Member of:
BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IFC,
ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS,
NACC, NAM (guest), NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNTAC, UPU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Ognyan Raytchev PISHEV
chancery:
1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
(202) 387-7969
FAX:
(202) 234-7973
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Hugh Kenneth HILL
embassy:
1 Alexander Stamboliski Boulevard, Sofia, Unit 25402
mailing address:
APO AE 09213-5740
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:
Growth in the lackluster Bulgarian economy fell to the 2% annual level in
the 1980s. By 1990, Sofia's foreign debt had skyrocketed to over $10 billion
- giving a debt-service ratio of more than 40% of hard currency earnings and
leading the regime to declare a moratorium on its hard currency payments.
The post-Communist government faces major problems of renovating an aging
industrial plant; keeping abreast of rapidly unfolding technological
developments; investing in additional energy capacity (the portion of
electric power from nuclear energy reached over one-third in 1990); and
motivating workers, in part by giving them a share in the earnings of their
enterprises. Political bickering in Sofia and the collapse of the DIMITROV
government in October 1992 have slowed the economic reform process. New
Prime Minister BEROV, however, has pledged to continue the reforms initiated
by the previous government. He has promised to continue cooperation with the
World Bank and IMF, advance negotiations on rescheduling commercial debt,
and push ahead with privatization. BEROV's government - whose main
parliamentary supporters are the former Communist Bulgarian Socialist Party
(BSP) - nonetheless appears likely to pursue more interventionist tactics in
overcoming the country's economic problems.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $34.1 billion (1992)
National product real growth rate:
-7.7% (1992)
National product per capita:
$3,800 (1992)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
80% (1992)
Unemployment rate:
15% (1992)
Budget:
revenues $8 billion; expenditures $5 billion, including capital expenditures
of $NA (1991 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 (1991)
Industrial production:
growth rate -21% (1992 est.); accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990)
Electricity: 11,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 5,070 kWh per capita
(1992)
*Bulgaria, Economy
Industries:
machine building and metal working, food processing, chemicals, textiles,
building materials, ferrous and nonferrous metals
Agriculture:
accounts for 22% of GDP (1990); 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:
donor - $1.6 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed
countries (1956-89)
Currency:
1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki
Exchange rates:
leva (Lv) per US$1 - 24.56 (January 1993),17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March
1991), 0.7446 (November 1990), 0.84 (1989), 0.82 (1988), 0.90 (1987); 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:
36,908 km total; 33,535 km hard surface (including 242 km superhighways);
3,373 km earth roads (1987)
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:
112 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 1,262,320 GRT/1,887,729 DWT;
includes 2 short-sea passenger, 30 cargo, 2 container, 1 passenger-cargo
training, 6 roll-on/roll-off, 15 oil tanker, 4 chemical carrier, 2 railcar
carrier, 50 bulk; Bulgaria owns 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,717
DWT operating under Liberian registry
Airports:
total:
380 usable:
380
with permanent-surface runways:
120
with runways over 3659 m:
0
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
20
with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
20
Telecommunications:
extensive but antiquated transmission system of coaxial cable and mirowave
radio relay; 2.6 million telephones; direct dialing to 36 countries; phone
density is 29 phones per 100 persons (1992); almost two-thirds of the lines
are residential; 67% of Sofia households have phones (November 1988);
telephone service is available in most villages; broadcast stations - 20 AM,
15 FM, and 29 TV, with 1 Soviet TV repeater in Sofia; 2.1 million TV sets
(1990); 92% of country receives No. 1 television program (May 1990); 1
satellite ground station using Intersputnik; INTELSAT is used through a
Greek earth station