Greek investments in Bulgaria are up significantly during the first quarter of 2010 on annual basis.

The report was published in the Greek business newspaper “Imerissia,” cited by the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

Greek investors brought to Bulgaria in the first three months of the year EUR 37.5 M compared to the mere EUR 500 000 during the same period last year. According to experts, the boom is attributed to the financial crisis in Greece where businessmen now prefer the market in a neighboring country to their own.

In the first half of 2009, Greek investments in Bulgaria hit their bottom low in the last several years – only EUR 70 M compared to EUR 297 M in the first half of 2008, Imerissia writes.

Meanwhile, the trend of reduction of Greek imports in Bulgaria continued in the first quarter of the year while Bulgarian export managed to overcome the negative drift of 2009.

According to data from the Greek National Statistics Office, the volume of trade between the two countries in the first three months of 2010 is EUR 414 M, which is a reduction of 3.1% on annual basis.

Greek export to Bulgaria is down by 6.4% (EUR 206.7 M) while Bulgaria’s export to Greece is up 1%.