New Bulgarian emigrants – successful businessmen
Nearly 1.6 million Bulgarians live and work abroad. The National Statistics Institute indicates that annually about 20 to 25 thousand people are leaving Bulgaria. The brain drain has become a major problem for this country in recent years. Young people joke that there are ways out of the crisis in Bulgaria - Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of Sofia Airport.
Bulgarian experts however say that Germans emigrate 60 times more often than us, Bulgarians. While only two percent of Europe’s population lives in another EU country other than their native country, Bulgarians abroad account for 4 percent of immigrant flows. These figures are high, but that is because Bulgaria is a small country, and ten per cent of Bulgarians already have immigrant status, said in an exclusive interview Professor Temenuga Rakadzhiyska, Professor at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia.
In recent years, however, a new type of Bulgarian emigration has come to life. These are successful business people who emigrate together with their families abroad. Such emigrants continue to manage their companies remotely from a distance or via frequent trips to Bulgaria. Experts predict that this segment of the Bulgarian emigrant flow will be growing in the future and that’s a bad sign for the Bulgarian economy.
Commentary on this issue of Professor Temenuga Rakadzhiyska:
“These are people who are at the other extreme - they are not part of the so-called economic emigration. They are mobile because they are already well-off in Bulgaria. Anyway, they have a high enough social status and the opportunity that gives them the European Convention on Nationality – i.e. they hold dual citizenship. They prefer to leave the country and settle in near or distant Western countries to ensure that members of their family and especially their children have a more stable social environment, a well regulated environment for education, communication and social development.
What is the Mecca of the rich Bulgarian immigrants?
“Most businessmen prefer Austria, first because we have a tradition of business contacts. Second, because Austria has many social benefits - the state is controlled and strong. Social negative trends that occur in some western countries are almost nonexistent there. Austria provides a very favorable environment also for the children of business emigrants - free education, many prestigious universities. It is very close to Bulgaria and they are free and often return to Bulgaria to manage their business”
The second place with a high concentration of rich Bulgarian expatriates in Brussels. Why is that so?
“Brussels because it is the European capital, and because there are many opportunities for contacts, lobbying. Bulgarian businessmen in Brussels are less in number, but the trends are clear. There are over 700 lobbyist centers there so opportunities to establish business contacts are very broad. Moreover, the mere presence of such lobbyist centers allows them to assert any interest”.
Except for the negative trends of ongoing brain drain and loss of workforce in Bulgaria, Bulgarian emigrants send home 800 million leva per year. Remittances from abroad are almost equal to the amount of foreign direct investment, says Professor Rakadzhiyska, adding that the money is usually sent to relatives and friends. For the past three years the Bulgarian emigrants have contributed around 2.3 billion leva to Bulgarian economy. This money has been spent in Bulgaria, Professor Rakadzhiyska says. Some of these sums get invested in real property, in opening small businesses, but the majority is actually spent on direct consumption by the relatives of emigrants.
Sources: bnr.bg
(27.09.2012)