Recession

Unemployment has remained at a double-digit rate for 14 years.

Even in the last 18 months of contraction, it has failed to drop below 10%, with experts pointing to a pool of 500,000 unemployed at the hard core of the phenomenon.

Its rate may have decreased last March to 10.2% from 10.8% in February, but it remained above the 10% barrier.

Economic sentiment in both the European Union and Bulgaria experienced some turbulence in February, reflecting ongoing uncertainties surrounding economic recovery and global challenges. According to the latest monthly survey by the European Commission, while consumer sentiment showed marginal improvement, economic attitudes unexpectedly deteriorated.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank in 2023 to a nearly 30-year low, as sharply higher mortgage rates, rising prices and a persistently low level of homes on the market combined to push homeownership out of reach for many Americans.

The forecasts of analysts of international organizations for the course of the global economy in 2023 were wrong. The interest rate hikes certainly had a negative impact on economic growth, but they did not force the US economy to make a "bumpy landing," nor did they plunge the European economy into recession.

Eurozone factories ended 2023 on the back foot, with activity contracting in December for an 18th straight month, according to a survey which gave scant signs of any imminent strong bounce back in an economy likely in recession.

China's factory activity decline deepened in December, official data showed yesterday, as Beijing rounded off a year marked by its stuttering economic recovery from the pandemic.

Bulgaria faces a challenging turn in its business climate as December reports unveil a decline in the total business climate indicator by 1.8 percentage points (pps), dropping to 19.8% from November's 21.6%. The National Statistical Institute highlighted a downturn primarily impacting construction, retail trade, and services sectors.

Industry Holds Steady but Faces Hurdles

Eurozone industrial production declined by more than expected in October, with the sharpest drop for capital goods such as machinery, reinforcing survey indications that the single-currency area is in a recession.

Whether in recession or growth, or with bailouts and pandemics, thousands of professionals and single-owner companies declare zero profits or losses for years: About 36.4% of sole proprietorships and 27.8% of professionals have declared zero profits or losses for at least five years.

Bulgaria's industrial landscape faced a substantial setback in September, witnessing a sharp decline both on a monthly and yearly scale, according to data from the National Statistical Institute. The year-on-year contraction reached a staggering 11.5%, surpassing the 2.7% dip compared to August.