Revolution to Come in Bulgaria?

There was a recent article made in the "Economist" magazine. It reported that Bulgarian and Romania have the worst economies in Eastern Europe. Now you don't have to be a mastermind to work that one out, it just confirms the obvious.

It claims that the current financial crisis on a global scale with have a negative affect in Bulgaria and Romania. Again, it could be said that the global financial meltdown will have a negative affect on every country in the world not just the poorest in the EU.

It goes further to state that Bulgarians have their Bulgarian Leva currency tied with the Euro and with no devaluation option to improve export competitiveness should be a major concern. And alongside the loss of millions of Euros from EU funding to Bulgaria due to corruption should sudden more shudders to the economy and concludes that both Bulgaria and Romania will face bleak times ahead.

Dealing with increasing poverty here is normal, this has been happening before any such global financial meltdown cam into play. Bulgarians put up with and deal with that in their own way. The only problem I see is for those here who have now been given a materialistic upbringing (especially the new westernised generation Bulgarians) and now will find that this may be taken away. This will be the cause of national unrest and to the extreme, revolution! This should be the greatest fear.

• Would this news put you off from investing in Bulgaria?

• Does anyone else fear this in their own country?

• If you already an expatriate, would this make you think about returning to your homeland?
  

Poverty Trap in Bulgaria

Having been living in Bulgaria for quite a few years now it has become more and more apparent that lack of money and high inflation are big problems for most people in Bulgaria. My family here are no exception. Even with our increasing poverty, the bandwagon of western influence hits hard on the weakness of materialism and greed. Everyday Bulgaria is being bombarded with adverts for new cars, fast food and numerous credit options to take to pay for these. It is a vicious spiral of temptation and a constant fight for many Bulgarians to feel that they have to have many things that aren’t commensurate to their income. It is a sick feeling I get when watching and experiencing this as my family here are glued to all the influence of advertising with a wish list of most things that are thrown at them.

Just to put this in perspective, our income as a family here is just enough to put our heads above water. Galia earns £140 a month and Baba’s pension comes to just over £60 a month. That’s £50 a week to live on,before I became part of the family and Galia didn’t have any work. They just lived on just that measly pension. Without my contribution from my small savings brought here (and that won’t last long as things are) the family would suffer intolerable poverty and stress. How many other families are in this poverty trap with inflation running as around 25% in real terms? Wages and pensions never keep up with inflation here so it just gets worse month after month.

A quick word about inflation here: We all know how much things have gone up in price here. We see the 30% increase in gas and electric over the last six months, we see the cost of homes rising at over 20% + per annum and we see the cost of food shoot up, even in the height of the growing season! No matter what Bulgarian politicians and manipulative economists conjure up as the rate of inflation, the people of Bulgaria living on a day-to-day basis here, know the what the real inflation rate is

Now it’s not just being lured into paying for luxury goods by credit as it now becomes a ‘normal’ way of funding, but having to pay for essentials by credit is becoming more common. Credit is now here to stay in Bulgaria, this wasn’t the case a few years ago.

It really is so difficult to forecast where this will end. There is no sign of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow here but just a case of trying to avoid the hell of running up credit. I can see many in the future here, many mortgaging their homes to fund day-to-day living. Looking even further ahead, many more will lose their properties to the banks and the next generation will not inherit their rightful homes causing more credit and mortgage runs.

The only advantage Bulgarians have over this wave of western materialistic virus is their in-built system of surviving through poverty using effective practicalities to combat this. This time however Bulgarians are not just against simple poverty of basic needs, but a danger of succumbing American culture and ways. In case you didn’t know, this is where it all the advertising comes from. There just isn’t the infrastructure in Bulgaria to live this way and they are taking advantage of a country whose population are easily led through the media looking glass.