Foreword

This Economic Survey was prepared by Margit Molnar, Michael Abendschein and Zvezdelina Zhelyazkova under the supervision of Sebastian Barnes. Klaus Pedersen and Lutecia Daniel provided research assistance. Nathalie Bienvenu, Gemma Martinez and Karimatou Diallo provided editorial support.

The Survey benefitted from useful comments by Jean-Christophe Dumont, Ben Game, Arijete Idrizi, Thomas Liebig, Marius Luske, Judd Ormsby, Emilia Soldani and Theodora Xenogiani.

On 25 January 2022, the OECD Council decided to open accession discussions with Bulgaria as well as five other countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania). On 10 June 2022, the Council at Ministerial Level adopted the Roadmap for the Accession Process of Bulgaria [C/MIN(2022)22/FINAL],  setting out the terms, conditions and process for the accession of Bulgaria. In accordance with this Roadmap, 25 OECD technical committees, composed of expert policy-makers from each of the 38 OECD Members, will conduct an in-depth assessment of Bulgaria’s legislation, policies and practices against OECD legal instruments and OECD best policies and practices covering multiple areas of government policy, including economic policy but also labour market and social policy, education, and health.

The overarching objective of the OECD accession process is to promote Bulgaria’s convergence with OECD standards, best policies and best practices, resulting in better outcomes for OECD Members as well as for Bulgaria and its citizens. Throughout the accession process, the OECD will work closely with Bulgaria to support the adoption of long-lasting reforms for this purpose.

The Economic Survey of Bulgaria was discussed at a meeting of the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC) on 7 March 2023 and is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The cut-off date for data used in the Survey is 24 March 2023. The previous Survey of Bulgaria was issued in January 2021. Information on other Surveys and how they are prepared is available at www.oecd.org/surveys

Publication of this document, and the analysis and recommendations contained therein, do not prejudge in any way the results of the review of Bulgaria by the Economic Development Review Committee as part of its process of accession to the OECD.