Bulgaria’s patchy road through transition

Over the past years, Bulgaria has followed a patchy road through transition. Its trade figures and their growth rates were more modest than was observed in most other transition economies in central Europe. Nevertheless, its trade relations with the EU have prospered: in 1999, around half of Bulgaria's trade was carried out with the EU. Apart from traditional heavy industry in machinery, chemicals and metals, a new export industry in textiles seems to have emerged in Bulgaria.