Austerity Measures Send Romanian Companies to BulgariaAusterity Measures Send Romanian Companies to Bulgaria

Thousands of Romanian companies are moving their business to neighboring Bulgaria, the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, informs Saturday.

The reasons cited are the spending cuts and austerity measures imposed in Romania, lower taxes and better conditions for the business in Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria revenue and profit taxes are 10% compared to 16% in Romania. The Value Added Tax (VAT) is also lower. Bucharest recently had to up VAT as a condition to obtain a EUR 2 B loan from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In addition, it is much easier to establish a company of Bulgaria where one needs less than a week and BGN 2 as initial capital.

It is estimated that nearly 2 500 Romanian companies have already moved to Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Danube city of Ruse sees 2 registrations of Romanian businesses per day.