Ognyan Donev was named new chairman of the Confederation of the Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIB). Levon Hampartzumian and Petko Dimitrov will be his deputies under a Thursday decision of the CEIB Management Board.

Fifteen members on the 25-strong board have been replaced.

In a report on "Bulgaria's economy in 2010: a walk on the bottom or a spring to the surface" former CEIB Chairman Ivo Prokopiev recommended that the government take advantage of a new safeguard credit line set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In Prokopiev's words, "the line would guarantee the macroeconomic stability and would restore the weakened trust of the business that the country is heading in the right direction."

The recent IMF crisis-prevention credit line is an insurance for countries leading healthy policies that do not meet the requirements for a flexible credit line or do not need a traditional stand-by arrangement with the IMF.

The government's outlook for a 3.6 per cent growth in 2011 is at the top end of growth projections for 2011 that range between 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent, said Prokopiev. Unfortunately, budget expenditures are based on government-projected revenues, meaning that even a slight slowdown would result in the 2009 situation and quite a large deficit.

Prokopiev noted that the delayed reforms in the public sector pose a risk to the budget.

An Alpha Research poll suggests that key concerns of entrepreneurs include expectations for freezing of foreign investments, unemployment growth and shedding skilled workers, using up resources and stocks, contraction of markets and demand, intercompany indebtedness, increase in non-performing loans and a drop in revenues. The data were presented by Boryana Dimitrova of Alpha Research.

More concerns are related to "the inconsistent policies of the government and the increased public spending and budget deficit."

The survey has been carried out among small and medium-sized businesses.

Source: BTA