Having attracted over € 21 billion in foreign direct investment in the last three years alone, Bulgaria is ranked one of Europe’s top investment targets. The country is beautiful, something which many other countries still do not know and the population is very open to foreign investors. Bulgaria has a winning combination of culture, education and the cost of labour, which makes the country very competitive. The geographic location is another key advantage.
With the support of Invest Bulgaria Agency, which is part of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism of Bulgaria, Eurolink Investment Group provides crucial economic information to investors concerning opportunities in Bulgaria. The Group also aims at helping speed up the process of starting and certifying a new business, offering land at strategic locations in the area of Varna.
Eurolink Investment Group has always welcomed all types of investments, focusing on providing support for investors in key sectors, including industrial production, energy (especially renewable energy), medicine, information technology, real estate and education.
Class A investments are now € 12 million and up, while class B investments start at € 7 million, and for investments in medicine, special regional projects or other targeted fields, the initial investment can be as low as € 2.8 million.
Class A Investor, Solarpro, recently certified for high technological activities planned in the field of the renewable energy sources.
The Investment Promotion Act regulates the terms and procedures of investing in Bulgaria.
The revision of the Investment Promotion Act, effective from 31 August 2007, introduced a system of promotion measures for initial investments in tangible and intangible fixed assets and new employment linked thereto, according to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1628/2006 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty to national regional investment aid. The following conditions must be fulfilled:
- the investments must be related to the setting-up of a new enterprise, to the extension of an existing enterprise, to diversification of the output of an enterprise into new additional products or to a fundamental change in the overall production process of an existing enterprise or modernisation of an existing production of goods and/or services;
- they must be implemented in the following economic activities:
– of the industrial sector: manufacturing industry and production of electricity from renewable energy sources;
– of the services sector: high technology activities in the sphere of computer technologies, research and development, as well as education and human health care;
- at least 80 per cent of the future aggregate income must be from the products produced by the economic activities listed above;
- at least 40 per cent of the eligible costs of the investment must be financed by the investor’s own or borrowed resources;
- the investment must be maintained for at least five years in the relevant region, reckoned from the date of implementation of the investment;
- employment must be created and maintained for at least three years in the relevant region; and
- the period of implementation must not exceed three years, reckoned from the date of award of an investment class certificate.
Depending on their value, investments are divided into two classes. Their threshold amount, fixed in the Regulations for Application of the Investment Promotion Act, is as follows:
General Case:
for Class A: BGN 70 million (€ 35 million);
for Class B: BGN 40 million (€ 20 million).
Where the initial investment is implemented entirely within the administrative boundaries of municipalities where the rate of unemployment for the year last preceding the current year is by 35 per cent or more higher than the national average, the threshold amount of investments within a single establishment is:
for Class A: BGN 35 million (€ 17,5 million);
for Class B: BGN 20 million (€ 10 million).
Where the initial investment is implemented entirely within the administrative boundaries of municipalities where the rate of unemployment for the year last preceding the current year is by up to 35 per cent higher than the national average, the threshold amount of investments within a single establishment is:
for Class A: BGN 45 million (€ 22,5 million);
for Class B: BGN 25 million (€ 12,5 million).
The threshold amount of investments within a single establishment in the high technology activities of the industrial sector of the economy is:
for Class A: BGN 35 million (€ 17,5 million);
for Class B: BGN 20 million (€ 10 million).
The threshold amount of investments within a single establishment in the high technology activities of the services sector is:
for Class A: BGN 24 million (€ 12 million);
for Class B: BGN 14 million (€ 7 million).
The certificate determines the investment class and the rights of the investor under the law.
According to the procedure established by the Investment Promotion Act, investments are promoted through:
1. shorter waiting time for administrative services: Class A and B;
2. personalised administrative services needed for implementation of the investment project: Class A;
3. relaxed requirements for acquisition of a right of ownership or limited rights in rem to real estate constituting private state and private municipal property: Class A and B;
4. financial support for construction of physical infrastructure elements needed for the implementation of one or more investment projects: Class A;
5. financial support for attainment of professional qualification by the persons who have not attained the age of 29 years, including interns from the higher schools in Bulgaria, who have occupied the new jobs linked to the investments: Class A and B.