Doing Business in Gabrovo

The Gabrovo Economy

The Institute for Market Economics treats Gabrovo and Sevlievo as one economic centre with two cores. It produced BGN 2.95 billion of output in 2021, BGN 36,200 per person, and its value added grew by 78% between 2012 and 2021. Gabrovo generated 47% of the value added and Sevlievo 53%.³

Source: Institute for Market Economics: Sevlievo–Gabrovo economic centre³

The economy of Gabrovo Municipality is slightly more balanced, but manufacturing still accounts for 49% of it. The centre is the most export-oriented in Bulgaria after the capital, with BGN 1.8 billion of exports in 2021, BGN 22,200 per person.³

Industry and Employers

A few large industrial companies dominate the centre: the sanitary-ware maker Ideal Standard–Vidima, with almost 3,300 employees, the plastics maker Hamberger, with 1,100, and the furniture company Parallel, with 843, in Sevlievo, and the garment company Dzalli, with over 1,000 workers, in Gabrovo. The highest salaries in the centre are in Gabrovo’s growing ICT sector, at BGN 3,121 a month in the study.³

On 29 April 2026, Ceratizit Bulgaria opened its renewed production base in Gabrovo, a BGN 30 million modernisation that marked 30 years of the company in the city. It invested over BGN 24 million in 2024, created 62 new jobs and employs over 580 people, and has started building a Ceratizit Academy training centre.⁴

Investment and the Innovation Valley

The Sevlievo–Gabrovo centre had attracted €351 million of foreign investment by the end of 2021, €4,300 per person, behind only the centres around Burgas–Nessebar and Sofia. By 2024, foreign investment in Gabrovo Province reached €5,164 per person, and export revenue made up 41.18% of company sales.^3,6

In 2025, Gabrovo Municipality received almost BGN 17 million for an innovation valley under the Regional Development Programme 2021–2027. The former Radion Umnikov School will become a centre for digital skills and innovation, and the Technical University of Gabrovo, a project partner, will build an innovation zone on its own land, with a production hall for start-ups.⁵

Workforce, University and Salaries

• 32,500 people were in work in the economic centre in 2021, 21,200 of them in Gabrovo Municipality, and 1,300 commute daily from Gabrovo to Sevlievo.
• A quarter of residents of the centre aged 7 and over have a university degree, and 35.6% of residents of Gabrovo Province aged 25–64.
• Unemployment in Gabrovo Province averaged 4.12% in 2025, and 80.8% of residents aged 20–64 were employed.
• The average gross salary in Gabrovo Province was €1,071 a month in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Source: Institute for Market Economics: Sevlievo–Gabrovo economic centre; Institute for Market Economics: Regional Profiles, Gabrovo Province; Ministry of Labour and Social Policy: Labour market bulletin, fourth quarter of 2025^3,6,2

Transport

Motorways and first-class roads made up 16.67% of the road network of Gabrovo Province in 2025, and the province had a road density of 25.61 km per 100 km².⁶

Registering a Company in Gabrovo

Bulgaria has one national Commercial Register, so a company based in Gabrovo can be filed online from anywhere with a qualified electronic signature, or on paper at the Registry Agency’s Gabrovo office. After registration, the company deals with the Gabrovo office of the National Revenue Agency for tax and VAT, and with Gabrovo Municipality for local taxes and fees.^7,8

Source: Registry Agency: Commercial Register contacts; Council of Ministers IISDA: National Revenue Agency offices; Gabrovo Municipality; Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Regional chambers^7,8,9,10

The full steps, documents, fees and timings are in the guide to registering a company in Bulgaria.