Bulgaria
Location
The Republic of Bulgaria is located in the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Area
110,993.6 square kilometres.
Capital
Sofia, the country's largest industrial and cultural centre with a population of 1.3 million.
Population
Bulgaria has a population of 7.607 million consisting mainly of ethnic Bulgarians. Other ethic groups include Roma (about 12%) and Turks (about 10%).
Administrative division
The country consists of 28 provinces which are subdivided into municipalities.
Currency
The national currency is the Bulgarian Lev.
Language
The national language is Bulgarian.
Religion
Bulgaria's Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and separates religion from the state, while the dominant religion is Orthodox Christianity (about 85%) . The second largest religion is Islam (13%).
National holiday
Bulgaria celebrates its national holiday on March 3, the day of the country's liberation from Ottoman rule.
Government and Law
Bulgaria functions as a parliamentary republic. The permanent supreme legislative body is the National Assembly, which has one chamber and consists of 240 deputies elected for a four-year term by popular vote. The current 41st assembly was elected on July 5, 2009. The Speaker is Tsetska Tsacheva, who was elected on July 14, 2009.
The president serves as the head of state, elected for a five-year term by direct popular vote. The incumbent president is Georgi Parvanov, who was re-elected on October 29, 2006 and inaugurated on January 22, 2007.
The supreme executive body is the Government, or the Council of Ministers. On July 27, 2009 the parliament elected the government headed by Boyko Borisov, who had previously served as Mayor of Sofia from 2005 through 2009.
The 2009 European Parliament election in Bulgaria was held on June 7, with 17 Bulgarian delegates elected to the Parliament representing the following parties: Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (five seats), the Bulgarian Socialist Party (four seats), the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (three seats), the Nation Union Attack and the National Movement for Stability and Progress (two seats each), and the Blue Coalition party (one seat).
Economy. In 2009, Bulgaria's Gross Domestic Product dropped 5.1% to €66.2 billion. The country's GDP is dominated by services (53.6%), industry (25.2%) and agriculture (5.9%). Relative to 2008, last year's decrease in industrial production was 8% and 1.5% for services. A 14.3% decline was observed in the processing industry, while energy and hydrocarbon production and distribution saw a 12% decrease. Local mining was the only sector to see an increase, which totaled 13.6%.
Bulgaria's 2009 budget deficit stood at €530 million, or 0.8% of the GDP. The country's foreign debt increased by €0.7 million and stood at €37.7 billion, or 11% of the GDP, mainly through private sector loans. The foreign national debt remained largely unchanged at €4.1 billion, or 12.3% of the GDP.
Bulgaria's foreign trade volume in 2009 dropped 30% and totaled €28.5 billion. The country's exports decreased 22.5% and stood at €11.8 billion, while imports dropped 33.5% and stood at €16.7 billion.
About 50% of the country's exports go to EU countries. Bulgaria's major trade partners are Germany, Russia, Italy, Turkey and Greece. In 2009 foreign investment into the Bulgarian economy dropped 2.5 times from the same period in 2008 and was €3.2 billion.
Foreign policy
A member of the European Union and NATO, Bulgaria focuses its foreign policy on strengthening its Euro-Atlantic links. The country was admitted to the European Union on January 1, 2007 and has been a member of NATO since April 2004. On May 5, 1992 Bulgaria became a member state of the Council of Europe. The country is also a member of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Trade Organisation.
As a member of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Black Sea Naval Co-operation Task Group (Blackseafor), Bulgaria pursues an active regional policy in the Balkans and the Black Sea region and cooperates with the Black Sea Forum for Partnership and Dialogue which was initiated by Romania.
