Bulgarians possess nearly one-sixth of the average wealth of the European citizens and 10% of the wealth of the average German or Dutch. Thus, Bulgaria places last in the whole EU in this ranking. Let us not forget, however, that in this case we are talking about the “Club of the wealthy ones! With regard to financial wealth the Bulgarian people place alongside the Romanian nationals, but are far behind the ones living in the Central Europe. However, this is not the case when speaking of banking. The Bulgarians save more than any other nation in bank deposits. The properties sold at the Bulgarian market are much cheaper as compared to the ones in other EU member states. There is another peculiarity as well. Unlike other Europeans, the Bulgarians are used to holding huge amounts of money in cash.

The total wealth of the Bulgarians-the financial and the one calculated in properties has exceeded EUR 98 billion, shows a research of the Industry Watch Company. This amount may seem impressive, but over two-thirds of it is based on the property wealth of the Bulgarian households.

The financial wealth only has reached some EUR 27 billion in September, 2013. This sum is expected to grow to EUR 28 billion when the Bulgarian National Bank releases official data for 2013. Most of this money is bank savings, because in times of crisis people have highest confidence in banks and the interest rate on bank deposits is attractive. The sharp increase of the bank deposits is quite paradoxical, but the truth is that people save more, because they have pessimistic expectation about the future in this country and tighten their belts as much as they can.

Money in cash amount to EUR 5 billion, data of the BNB show. With regard to money held in cash, Bulgaria places first in the whole Europe.

“In my view, this is due to the financial crisis we all went through back in 1997”, comments for Radio Bulgaria Krassen Yotov from Industry Watch. “There are many Bulgarians who do not trust the banking system and prefer to hold money in cash. No increase of the electronic payments in this country was registered either. For instance, in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary most people prefer to use credit or debit cards rather than keep their money in cash”.

Property wealth of the Bulgarians is estimated to some EUR 71 billion at present. Since 2008 until now, the price of the Bulgarian homes has dwindled by nearly 40% which respectively resulted in decreased financial wealth. Bulgaria places second in the whole EU after Ireland in terms of price collapse at the property market which was mainly due to the property bubble.

How do you assess the wealth of the Bulgarians as compared to the one of other EU nations?

“Most of the difference comes from the financial wealth, because savings in Bulgaria are insufficient”, specifies Krassen Yotov. “People living in the highly developed European counties invest much more in pension funds for example. In Bulgaria people prefer to keep their savings predominantly in banks.”

If we make a comparison with other new EU member states, the financial wealth of the Bulgarian citizens is close to the one of the Romanian nationals, but is four times less than the one in Poland and the Czech Republic.

“The huge difference between the wealth of the Bulgarians and the one in countries mentioned above is explained by the big difference in the incomes received in these countries. The low incomes in Bulgaria obstruct people here to save substantial financial resource”, explains Krassen Yotov. “Other countries, excluding Romania, did not suffer the hyperinflation registered in Bulgaria in 1997. Back then, many people lost their personal savings which influenced their financial wealth”.

With regard to the property wealth, Bulgaria lags behind other Eastern European countries, because real estate prices in that country are 20% to 30% lower.

“The only good thing in Bulgaria is that most people possess their own properties”, Krassen Yotov adds. “Most of the property wealth belongs to the people and the rate of the mortgage loans in Bulgaria is lower. In Germany for instance only 40% of the whole population is in possession of own property”, contends Krassen Yotov.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov