Chief executives from Bulgaria’s largest companies paint bleak pictures of the local economy for 2009 but see their own businesses as safe havens to a certain extent, a survey by local polling agency GS Research has showed.

The managers polled by the agency said the Bulgarian economy will be back on the road to growth early in 2011, echoing the forecasts made by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which estimated the global economy will stem the downturn next year at the earliest.

A large majority of Bulgarian executives expect 2009 to be tough for both their businesses and the economy as a whole. The major challenges with include financing, keeping customers and sales levels, the stability of the financial system and scaling back expenses.

The outlook is brighter for next year, with almost half of the respondents saying that 2010 will see the final phase of the global economic deterioration. Many do not expect there would be any major changes for the better even in 2010. Almost all managers predicted they will beat the crisis in 2011, but one-third said the Bulgarian economy will be still struggling at that time.

Managers in the tourism, machine-building and construction sectors remained the most pessimistic about their own companies. Banking and insurance executives were the most optimistic of all. Agriculture business leaders think things will stay more or less the same between 2009 and 2011.

GS Research was set up by two Bulgarian investment consultants and plans to carry out regular polls of executives to gauge business sentiment. The survey was the firm's first.

Source: Dnevnik