About the ILO in Bulgaria

Continued convergence, but with some caveats

After a lost decade of transition in the 1990s, Bulgaria only made progress towards economic gains and shared prosperity in the 2000s based on growth rates of 4 to 6% per year. The Covid-19 pandemic pushed the Bulgarian economy into a recession in 2020 with a decline of GDP of 4.4% (EU27: 5.9%). While the economy rebounded in 2021 (GDP growth of 3.8 %), it nevertheless performed below expectations, mainly due to new infection waves that were not aided by a vaccination rate less than half the EU-average. Growth is expected to further strengthen to above 4% but may be hampered by stronger inflation and continued vaccine hesitancy.  Continue reading