Stara Zagora!
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READY FOR BUSINESS FAVOURABLE BUSINESS CLIMATE DIVERSE WORKFORCE AND ENGINEERING TALENTS SHORT TERMS TO A COMPLETED FACTORY INVESTMENT DESTINATION STARA ZAGORA 2020 READY FOR BUSINESS INVESTMENT DESTINATION STARA ZAGORA Stara Zagora - the region in the heart of the Balkans with unrevealed potential for development and growth. It is not the Wild West – but be the first discoverer. Launch! Because the challenges are for the visionaries only! Discover Stara Zagora Copyright 2020 Stara Zagora Municipality WELCOME TO STARA ZAGORA! READY FOR BUSINESS It is not surprising that the BBC history channel filmed the city in its “Birth of Europe” program. In the past decades, Stara Zagora - the sixth largest city of Bulgaria, EU, ranks right after the capital city of Sofia, according to statistic data on GDP per capita. Stara Zagora was recognized for its investment potential by the fDi Zhivko Todorov magazine a few times in recent Mayor of Stara Zagora Municipality years. The City is ready to support all innovative investments, providing Dear Reader, appropriate plot and assistance for Let me through this investment the next steps throughout the brochure introduce you very briefly to administrative procedures to the final the history and the present investment, including trainings of the development of my hometown to labor force needed. which I have the honor to be the Based on our strategy I would like to Mayor. extend an invitation to explore the The City of Stara Zagora is a cosy investment opportunities that my City and vital city, located in the central offers as well as the tax incentives part of Bulgaria, EU. It has 8000 Bulgaria provides. I am not appealing years of history and Neolithic to you only as a Mayor but also as a Dwellings museum exhibiting citizen of Stara Zagora to see first- remains of human life on our land hand what unique potential the city from that time. and its people have. 2 TABLE OF CONTENT DOING BUSINESS IN BULGARIA 4 CONSTRUCTION PERMIT 21 Bulgaria in the world charts Workflow of dealing with Investment incentives construction permit STARA ZAGORA ON THE MAP 6 LOCAL TAXES & FEES 23 Transport connectivity General tax policy Climate & geography Property tax Waste fee HUMAN RESOURCES 10 LOCAL ECONOMY 25 LABOR MARKET 11 Manufacturing Business services Consumer services Wages by segment SPECIAL FOCUS 29 EDUCATION 14 Machine building & R&D Automotive Transport & logistics LAND & PROPERTY MARKET 17 Agriculture Industrial property prices Office & industrial rents Construction activity MAJOR INVESTORS 31 Available land for business ACCESS TO UTILITIES 19 QUALITY OF LIFE 34 Electricity History & tourism Water & sewage Art & culture Internet connectivity Sports & recreation DOING BUSINESS IN BULGARIA • BULGARIA’S 10% CORPORATE AND • LA WS AND REGULATIONS WERE PERSONAL INCOME TAX RATES ARE HARMONIZED WITH EU LEGISLATION AS THE THE LOWEST IN EU COUNT RY JOINED EU IN 2007 • EU SINGLE MARKET ACCESS • C ONSERVATIVE FISCAL POLICY AND LOW GOVERNMENT DEBT-TO-GDP According Eurostat data: In 1997 a broad consensus over the cornerstones of economic policy was • The 2018 GDP of Bulgaria -3,1 is higher achieved and it continues to dominate than EU-27 – 2,1; reforms at present. A currency board • The public debt went down from over establishes a fixed exchange rate (to EUR) 100% of GDP in 1997 to 20,2% (2019-Q3) – regime under which the Central Bank cannot the second lowest in EU 27; The EU 27 av. finance the government or the commercial for the same period: 79,5%. banks. Bulgaria will keep the fixed rate until the adoption of the Euro, which is part of its • The third lowest ratio in EU of government EU accession agreement. debt-to-GDP was recorded again in Bulgaria (28.9%) next only to Estonia's and Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and EU in Luxembourg’s according to Eurostat’s 2007. 2019 – Q3 report. Bulgaria’s 10% corporate and personal Bulgaria is an open economy. Exports are income tax rates are the lowest flat rates diversified and include the fast growing in EU. In comparison, Romania holds 16% vehicle parts, machinery and pharmaceutical corporate and personal income tax rates, sectors. Business services exports also Serbia - 15%, and the Czech Republic expanded substantially during the last respectively 19% and 15%. decade. BULGARIA IN THE WORLD CHARTS In the 2019 Global Competitiveness Index The best scores that Bulgaria receives, along (GCI) of the World Economic Forum in Davos with Germany and France are as economy set (www.weforum.org), Bulgaria keeps its best regulatory performance in time to import ranking as 49th (out of 141) compared to and in “Starting business” 85 points out of 100. Serbia (72th), Romania (51th), Greece (59th), Since 1996, the index published in Economic Turkey (61th), and Poland (37th). Bulgaria Freedom of the World Report keeps its best scores in “Macroeconomic (www.freetheworld.com) by the Fraser environment” (90 out of 100) which is close to Institute (Vancouver, Canada) has been Euroep and North America average. measuring the degree to which the policies In the 2019 “Doing Business” report of the and institutions support economic freedom. World Bank (doingbusiness.org), Bulgaria In the 2019 edition of the Index Bulgaria ranks 59th out of 190 countries, compared ranks 37th (out of 159). Bulgaria keeps its to Turkey (43th), Hungary (53th), Greece best scores as "Sound money" (9.4 score), (72th), Italy (51th) and Romania (52th). “Regulation” (7.7) and "Freedom to trade internationally" (8.1). 6 INVESTMENT INCENTIVES Rapid lane for administrative services (for investors class A and B) • Individual administrative services (for class A) • Acquisition of ownership or limited property rights on • properties without tender or competition (for class A and B) Financial support for the construction of technical infrastructure • elements (for class A or for two projects class B in an industrial zone) Financial support for training or acquiring professional qualification • for the newly employed (only for investments in the high-tech activities or in the municipalities with a high unemployment rate – for class A and class B) Financial support for partial reimbursement of the investor’s compulsory • social security contributions for newly recruited employees (for class A and B) INDICATOR RANK SOURCE YEAR GOVERNMENT DEBT 3 rd lowest in Eurostat 2019 – Q3 (% OF GDP) EU (28.9%) PERSONAL AND 1st lowest in EU CORPORATE INCOME Eurostat 2015 FLAT TAX RATES (10%) DOING BUSINESS 59 th (out of 190) World bank 2019 INDEX 2017 ECONOMIC FREEDOM (calculating the index in 37 th (оut of 159) Fraser Institute OF THE WORLD INDEX the 2019 edition with data from 2017) 7 STARA ZAGORA ON THE MAP • A ROAD INTERSECTION POINT OF FOUR • THE CLIMATE IS FAVORABLE FOR PAN-EUROPEAN CORRIDORS INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES AND CONSTRUCTION WORKS, AS WELL AS FOR • A WELL DEVELOPED RAIL NETWORK TOURISM AND RECREATION TRANSPORT DISTANCE TO KM MILES CONNECTIVITY Athens 931 579 Belgrade 623 387 The central geographic location of the Bucharest 287 178 Stara Zagora region turns it into a crossroad, through which major transport Budapest 998 620 routes connect the eastern, western, Istanbul 367 228 northern and southern parts of Bulgaria – an important prerequisite for its Kiev 1 203 748 establishment as an international logistics Niš 405 252 center. The city has transport links by road and by rail with all parts of the country. Milan 1 651 1026 The biggest regional centers - Sofia and Moscow 2 058 1279 Plovdiv can be reached for 2 hours and 20 minutes and 1 hour and 10 minutes, Munich 1 558 968 respectively, through Trakia Motorway. Paris 2 476 1 539 Bourgas is easily reached, also through Trakia Motorway, in an hour and a half and Rotterdam 2 401 1 492 Rousse - for 2 hours and 40 minutes. Thessaloniki 432 268 78.3 mln on 48.7 mln on Mars average average 8 Black Sea Source: skyscrapercity.com Stara Zagora district is an intersection point routes of major Pan-European transport of four Pan-European corridors. Two of corridors: them, Corridor IV “Dresden–Bucharest– ‣ VIIIth main railway line, part of the route of Sofia-Istanbul” and Corridor IX “Helsinki- Pan-European Corridor № 8 Vyborg-St. Petersburg-Pskov-Gomel-Kiev- th Liubashivka-Chișinău-Bucharest-Stara ‣ IV main railway line, part of the route of Pan-European Corridor № 9. Zagora–Alexandroupolis”, connect Central and Northern Europe, through the northern Stara Zagora has a convenient railway border, with Turkey and Greece, through the connection with the town of Dimitrovgrad, southern border. The other two, Corridor VIII through which runs the main railway line “Durrës-Sofia-Plovdiv-Stara Zagora-Varna/ "Kalotina-Sofia-Plovdiv-Svilengrad", part of Burgas” and Corridor X “Salzburg– Belgrade- the route of Pan-European Corridor № 4. Plovdiv-Istanbul” (which runs in Bulgaria through Corridor IV), connect Western Europe The cargo section of the main rail station with Bulgaria’s Black Sea ports and Turkey. serves as intermodal hub for the land transport, equipped to load and unload Stara Zagora district has convenient containers on trains and trucks. transport links to the following ports: Since 2010, one of the largest railway companies in Europe – Rail Cargo Austria, Burgas port /Black Sea/ - 180 km ‣ conducts through the region regular freight ‣ Rousse port /Danube river/ - 235 km transport from Central Europe to Turkey and ‣ Alexandroupolis port /Aegean sea/ - 300 vice versa. km The biggest international airports in the Stara Zagora railway station plays a country are easily reachable from Stara strategic role in the transportation of passengers and cargo from Northern and Zagora: Southern Bulgaria, as well as in ‣ International airport Plovdiv – 90 km international transport. It is a crossing point International airport Bourgas – 180 km of two main railway lines, which follow the ‣ ‣ International airport Sofia – 250 km 9 CLIMATE & GEOGRAPHY Stara Zagora district has a moderately annual rainfall is 598 mm, which is evenly continental climate, diverse and fertile soils distributed throughout the year.