Even though Bulgaria's property rights have seen a slight improvement, the country has dropped 5 places in the 2011 International Property Rights Index, published Tuesday by the Property Rights Alliance, reaching 64th out of 129.

Bulgaria's overall score improved by 0.3 points, reaching 5.3 out of 10, which is the same result Turkey, Brazil, Benin, Morocco, Croatia and Thailand have. The index ranking is topped by Sweden and Finland with 8.5, followed by Singapore with 8.3.

Bulgaria's worst subcomponent remains the Legal and Political Environment, in which the country is given 5.0 points.

The property rights situation in Bulgaria continues to improve, according to the report, albeit slowly. For the third year in a row, the country's Legal and Political Environment component has risen with gains across subcomponents, the largest of which being a whole point in Judicial Independence.

However, Bulgaria's physical property rights decreased this year, falling below 2009 levels. This decline was driven by weakening Protection of Physical Property and Access to Loans scores, especially the latter.

Bulgaria's Protection of Intellectual Property improved by 0.7 points this year. A slight improvement Bulgaria's in Copyright Piracy also helped raise the Intellectual Property Rights component by 0.3 points.

In evaluating Bulgaria's property rights progress, the Property Rights Alliance has worked in collaboration with the Institute for Market Economy, an economic policy think tank in Bulgaria.

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