Fast internet speed - Bulgaria's competitive advantage globally

Bulgaria's economy has jumped five spots up in the World Economic Forum's competitiveness ranking (current edition 2013-2014) and is now placed 57th out of 148 countries included.

For comparison - it was 62nd in the previous edition (2012-2013) of the report, which uses 12 factors to measure levels of compet itiveness.

Significant factors for the country's improvement in terms of competitiveness are technological readiness and macroeconomic environment, according to the report.

Bulgaria's strong performance in the „Technological readiness“ factor seems the country's main competitive advantage.

A total of 55% of Bulgaria's population are internet users(which ranks the country at 55 on this indicator), while 18 out of 100 persons have fixed broadband Internet subscriptions (at spot 38 on this indicator), according to the Global Competitiveness Report.

The country shines in the report's „Internet bandwidth, kb/s per user“ indicator where it is ranked at 22.

Bulgaria also performs well in the „Macroeconomic Environment“ factor - inflation is low (1% annual change) and government debt-to-GDP ratio is 20%.

Inefficient judicial system (123rd for „Judicial independence“, 130th for „Organized crime“.) and weak institutions (117th for Favoritism in decisions of government officials) remain the most problematic factors for doing business in the country.

Public trust in politicians sinks to a new low in 2013, the year, which was marked by relentless anti-government protests. On this indicator specifically Bulgaria was placed at spot number 85 in the previous edition, now it is at 97.

Adapted from novinite