UniCredit Bulbank serves 80% of the Italian companies carrying out business in Bulgaria. This was announced by Mr. Andrea Casini, Chief Operating Officer of UniCredit Bulbank at the “Pocket-size multinational corporations: Italian small and medium enterprises facing the Bulgarian market” conference organized by Confindustria Bulgaria with the support of UniCredit Bulbank. These are 800 Italian companies – clients of the bank, and slightly over 60% of them are SMEs.

“Italy believes in Bulgaria and its development prospects, and the big opportunities offered by your market are waiting to be realized", said Marco Conticelli, Ambassador of Italy to Bulgaria.

For the past three years the credit portfolio of UniCredit Bulbank with respect to the Italian entrepreneurs has almost doubled. According to Andrea Casini, Bulgaria has its competitive advantages with which it attracts foreign investors, and Italian companies also take these opportunities. Some of the advantages of our country which he mentioned are its stable currency, low tax rates, lower cost of labour compared the other EU countries, lower cost of services, as well as the strategic location of our country. For the period 2014-2020, the total amount of the EU funds allocated to Bulgaria (although the amount has not been confirmed yet) is EUR 15 billion. A significant part of these funds is expected to be channeled towards improvement of the competitiveness of SMEs.

"Therefore it is essential that we work towards reducing the low rates of use of these funds by means of a bigger participation of the banks in the selection and analysis of the projects", Andrea Casini further said. Naturally, he mentioned that the unstable political situation at the beginning of the year had its impact on both companies and citizens through an increase of the uncertainty and the lack of confidence in the future development of the country.

According to the Chief Operating Officer of UniCredit Bulbank, the events of the first months of this year will affect the growth rates of the economy throughout 2013. As a result, the economists of the bank reduced their forecast for GDP growth from 1.7% to 1% for this year. Yet, the main indicators for the country remain stable and analysts expect to see a more significant recovery of the economy in 2014.

More information for clients:

UniCredit Bulbank, Call Centre

Phone: 0700 1 84 84

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 963, flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch