site.btaTrend Survey: 78% of Bulgarians Worried about Managing Financially in Next 12 Months

Seventy-eight per cent of Bulgarians fear how they will manage financially in the next twelve months, shows a survey of economic attitudes presented by Trend co-founder Evelina Slavkova at the NEXT DiFi 2022 financial forum here on Wednesday. This percentage does not vary significantly between age groups, between residents of Sofia and villages, and between richer and poorer respondents, Slavkova said. 

The survey is representative of Bulgaria’s adult population. It was carried out from August to October among over 1,000 respondents via face-to-face semi-standardized interviews. 

Due to fears that their financial standing might worsen, Bulgarians are reducing consumption, Slavkova noted. Fifty-six per cent of the interviewees said they buy fewer food products due to the very high prices. The respondents have also limited their purchases of household goods and clothing.  

Forty-three per cent fear that they will lose their jobs due to the crisis. 

Thirty-seven per cent believe that the prices of basic goods and services have increased by more than 50%, while 34% of the respondents think this increase is between 31% and 50%.  

Seventy-six per cent of Bulgarians are worried how they will cover their living costs this winter, while just 17% do not believe they have serious financial problems. In the latter group are younger people living in the capital with incomes exceeding BGN 2,500 per household member, Slavkova specified.  

In her words, the start of the war in Ukraine in February has marked a change in Bulgarian society’s attitudes, with pessimistic ones having ever bigger shares than optimistic attitudes. 

Fifty-five per cent expect the economic situation in Bulgaria to worsen in the next twelve months and 49% expect their living standard to worsen. Marked as the biggest problems facing Bulgaria are high prices, inflation and the price hike, followed by the energy crisis and impoverishment.

After the survey’s presentation, the main trends were discussed by leading financial experts and economists, among whom Lyubomir Datsov and Kouzman Iliev. Former finance minister Simeon Dyankov presented his forecasts in an interview from Washington.  

Datsov said he does not expect the inflation rate to decrease fast, given that the governments will continue down the slippery slope of deficits and debt accumulation. According to him, things cannot get better without a conservative fiscal policy. In his words, the standard delay between the rise of inflation and the increase of salaries is from three to six months; however, things work differently in Bulgaria, which is yet another reason for inflation to go up and last longer here.