Bulgarian Economy

I've already said elsewhere that Bulgaria is the poor. The poorest nation in the EU in fact. And so it is. What may one expect to get for ones wedge then? Well it depends on where you are, as it does in any country. In the capital, Sofia, your folding stuff will disappear quicker, in the sticks, it will stretch considerably further.

Using the tried and tested pint comparison scale, in the UK, a pint in a swanky boozerama with carpet, fruities, candles and all the trimmings costs about a £5 in London and something like £2.50 in a similar establishment in Sofia. It's difficult to generalise as I've paid considerably more in both cities but it gives you an idea.
In Gostilitsa, the bar doubles as the local supermarket. Facilities are rudimentary but you'd be unlucky not to find a chair and somewhere to rest your beer bottle. Toilet facilities vary in quality from tree, to bush, to grassy knoll, to actual toilet (although the pervasive pungent atmosphere does hint at someone having suffered a terminal evacuation in the recent past). Personally, I prefer the tree option. The savings made on lack of decorative luxuries can of course be passed onto the consumer. A bottle of beer (a few ounces short of a pint) comes in at around 50p. Stella strength but much nicer to get drunk on. Zagorka and Kamenitsa are the top choices.

A loaf of bread comes in at around 50p and is pretty good stuff.
Any local produce costs next to nothing if in season and is usually sublime.
Dairy varies in quality and price. Butter can be cheap but the good stuff isn't. Locally produced white cheese is quite cheap but lacks any depth of flavour. Yellow cheese is surprisingly expensive and not that good. Think Edam but without the punch.
Protein is approximately half the price of the UK and if you're a creative cook, cheaper cuts represent even better value for money.
Anything imported is expensive, often German and not as good quality as UK supermarket equivalents on the whole.

A further note on imports/exports. Cross border trade remains at an exceptionally low level. People will talk about Bulgarian wine exports a lot (the fifth largest exporter in Europe someone told me but the 2011 production figures suggest they're 11th, so go figure). Whatever the case, wine is certainly an increasingly important commodity for Bulgaria. A few miles down the road from Gostilitsa is the town of Sevlievo. One of the wealthiest towns in Bulgaria as a result of being the home of the very large Ideal Standard sanitary-ware factory (the irony that one of the largest toilet making facilities in Europe is just a long piss away from the village where I use a tree for relief is not lost on me). Thing is, once you count out wine and loos, you start to run out of showpiece industrial success stories. Sunflowers and Bio-fuel is on the up, tobacco cultivation is in decline, energy export revenue from the old Soviet nuclear plant at Belene no longer exists following it's closure (Chernobyl style reactors have gone out of fashion for some reason). There are many small scale producers turning into collectives or being bought and turned into scalable commercial enterprises but progress is made at the traditional Bulgarian pace. Shame really, Bulgaria has EU grants up the ying-yang and should have done better. The problem seems to have been that the few entrepreneurs in Bulgaria concentrated on siphoning off the generous grants into Swiss bank accounts rather than invest in the country. Government officials often attract the most attention for such accusations it appears.
The majority of what Bulgaria produces is for the domestic market. There's only so much jam, honey and walnut oil that the rest of the world wants or needs.

The Lev is pegged to the Euro at a rate of 1.95Lv -1€. This offers the currency some stability and credibility. The recession largely passed Bulgaria by unless one was trying to sell a house (values tanked like the rest of the world). The one benefit of no-one wanting to lend you money is that you don't get into debt. And not trading with the rest of the world means you have no cash-flow problems because there isn't any cash flowing. I'm over-simplifying but there is more than a grain of truth in this.

All in all, Bulgaria gets on with things without worrying too much about economics. It's a terribly confusing subject really and they seem to have abandoned any interest in it. Nicking many many millions in Euros from the EU was fun and the EU bank is always giving money away. The EU did realise they've been turned over by the way but both parties appear to have shrugged their shoulders brushed the whole thing under the carpet.
'Now then Bulgaria, did you build that motorway with the money we gave you as promised? No? Well what did you do with it then? What do you mean you drank it? All of it? Blimey! You lot are going to have to ease back on the sauce before we give you any more. What was that? You want some money to upgrade your electricity grid? Oh go on then. How much do you need? That much huh? Well ok, but don't go on another massive bender with it this time.' (glug glug glug)