Bulgarian industrial enterprises plan to slash their investment by 7.6% next year compared to 2020, the national statistical office, NSI, said on Friday.
The largest part of the planned investments, 37.6%, is expected to be made by companies active in the sectors related to energy and water, followed by producers of intermediate goods and non-durable goods, with 35.7% and 14.6%, respectively, the NSI said in a statement, citing the results of a survey of business activity conducted in October.
“About 40% of the enterprises do not plan any expenditures on acquiring fixed assets over the next year,” the statistical office said.
As regards the purpose of investments in 2021, the highest share, 34.5%, is expected to finance the increase of production capacity, while 29.4% of the investments will be used for the replacement of worn-out equipment.
Investments in protection of the environment, improvement of safety measures and the like will represent 19.7% of all planned investments in industrial enterprises next year.
According to the survey, local industrial enterprises intend to cut their investment by 20.9% this year compared to 2019. The planned cut is smaller than the decrease of 21.8% projected in March, when a nationwide state of emergency was imposed in Bulgaria over the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2020, the biggest share of investments, 36.4%, is expected to be formed by intermediate goods manufacturers, while second in terms of planned investment are companies operating in the energy and water sectors with an expected share of 27.5% of total investment, followed by industries producing non-durable goods with a share of 18.2%.
