Bulgaria has been listed for the first time in a report by international consulting company A.T. Kearney on the distribution of global services. The country ranks 15th among the 40 most attractive countries to host company outsourcing. Slovakia and Romania also entered the report for the first time, which confirms business interest in South Eastern Europe. Outsourcing activities are moving further to the east, the report says, with the Middle East also becoming a preferred destination, Dnevnik newspaper reported.
The factors which determine the attractiveness of a country include salary level, employee qualification, infrastructure development and business climate. Company representatives in Bulgaria said the spectrum of outsourcing activities in the country is quite wide compared to earlier years. Initially only software services and programming companies moved their activities to Bulgaria. Experts predict an increase in outsourcing activities between 30 and 40 per cent for the coming year. The country is attractive because of the low production prices and the good ratio between the number of qualified experts and labour prices, economists said.