The net value of investment into Bulgaria increased by 37.5% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2015, the head of the country's investment promotion agency said.

With investment statistics yet to be processed, some EUR 1.37 B were drawn into Bulgaria between January and October of last year, Yanev said in an interview he gave for the Bulgarian National Radio as his InvestBulgaria Agency is about to hold its annual Investor of the Year awards ceremony.

The amount includes both domestic and foreign investment. In his words, the numbers show Bulgaria is still working to retain its reputation as a country of economic and political stability.

Over the course of ten years, InvestBulgaria Agency has certified 185 projects worth EUR 13 B which opened 60 000 new jobs, he added.

He said the Netherlands is still on top of the list of leading investors into Bulgaria. This is partly due to the fact that many companies use the Netherlands to channel through it investment into other countries due to its favourable legislation.

Asked whether his work in the past year (he was appointed in January 2015) has delivered the reform to the agency he had promised, Yanev recalled the number of investment promotion events, including the roundtable in China, that InvestBulgaria has carried out.

He added the agency was among the driving forces of an the formation of a Bulgarian-Chinese joint venture that is to begin on Thursday the construction of an animal feed mill in the northeastern town of Dobrich.

„When we work in a team with the Prime Minister and the Economy Minister, as it was in Shanghai, results are not late,” Yanev said, referring to the week-long visit of PM Boyko Borisov, ministers and a business delegation to China that took place in November.

Asked about main obstacles to investors who wish to set foot in Bulgaria, he said that despite Bulgaria's 38th spot in the World Bank's Doing Business 2016 ranking, access to electricity (where the country is No. 100), enforcing contracts, and paying taxes are among areas where much work has to be done.

Skilled labor is also where authorities should concentrate to improve relations between the education system and businesses so that the future labor pool is fit to cope with “present-day challenges”, Yanev made clear.

In his words, engineering, IT and outsourcing, the chemical industry, electronics, balneology, and agriculture are sectors still considered attractive to investors.

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