Thread by @radosveta_vass

1. #Bulgaria/n #economy 101! #Thread

#Borissov's government is proud that in 2018, #GDP growth was 3.2%, but how impressive is this and should you be impressed too?

2. #Bulgaria has the lowest #GDP/capita in the #EU, but it is not that small. Our population is ca 7.1 million. What does that mean? Lack of efficiency, but not only.

Graph credit: WorldBank

3. #Bulgaria has the lowest median earnings in the #EU. In 2018, the net salary was 457 EUR. Contrast with #Romania (565 EUR), #Poland (784 EUR), and #Greece (917 EUR).

Chart credit: reinisfischer.com/average-salary…

4. What could this average salary get you? Not much!

Last time I checked, a family of four needed €1188/month on average for basic expenses in Bulgaria. You do the math what happens if both parents earn the average salary! They cannot support 2 kids.

#Bulgaria #Poverty

5. In light of the above, it is not surprising that 22% of #Bulgaria/ns live below the poverty line. This has been the case for a while. Stable at the bottom with #Borissov in the lead.

6. At least people have jobs, you might say. This is somewhat imprecise. As a result of the extremely low salaries in #Bulgaria, people emigrate on a mass scale. Statistics by the Bulgarian Academy of Science show there are MORE Bulgarians working abroad than in #Bulgaria.

7. Those who emigrate stay abroad. Those who stay have 1.5 children on average b/c of poverty. We have a severe demographic crisis. #Bulgaria is considered the fastest shrinking nation in the world according to the United Nations. Here is an illustration of what is happening:

8. But let us return to #Borissov's pride, the 3% GDP growth per year! As explained above, Bulgaria's #GDP is extremely low, considering its population, b/c the economy is inefficient, etc.

9. Consider a comparison with #Czechia:

#GDP of #Bulgaria in 2018: $65.133 billion
#GDP of the #CzechRepublic in 2018: $245.226 billion

Population of #Bulgaria in 2018: 7.05 million
Population of the #CzechRepublic in 2018: 10.65 million

10. Even further, 3% GDP growth is not that impressive when you consider other East European countries in 2018:

#Hungary: 4.9%
#Latvia: 4.8%
#Albania: 4.2%
#Romania: 4.1%...etc.

#Bulgaria is doing worse than them.

gfmag.com/global-data/ec…

11. Even more worrisome is the fact that #Bulgaria has no #FDI. Since #Borissov came to power, foreign investors have left.

Why?

12. #Corruption in #Bulgaria is certainly part of the problem (most corrupt #EU member acc to all major indices). Most of all, the #Borissov model consists in promoting low salaries as a #competitiveadvantage. His model promotes #poverty and manual labor in the 21st century!

13. So where does #Bulgaria/n GDP growth come from if there is no #FDI? Primarily #EUfunds!

14. Is this a sustainable model? We all know when #EUfunds will end. Meanwhile, the #poverty promoted by #Borissov's regime has indirect effects which will guarantee poverty in the long-run too.

15. Take a look at the latest #PISA assessment! #Bulgaria performed significantly below the #OECD average in all areas. What kind of labor force is #Bulgaria developing?

oecd.org/pisa/PISA-resu…

16. #Bulgaria has one of the lowest expenditures on Research & Development as part of the #GDP in the #EU, too! ec.europa.eu/eurostat/docum…