Four to five automobile industry factories are going to open in Bulgaria soon, according to the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Agency for Investments, BAI, Borislav Stefanov.

Speaking Friday, in an interview for the BTA news agency, he informed that BAI has worked in 2012 on 10 carmaker projects, and at least 4-5 of them will materialize. Stefanov stressed this did not mean that a factory is to open doors by the end of the year, but rather that such decisions will be made in the upcoming six months.

The CEO forecasted an increase of 20% of investments in Bulgarian economy in 2012, compared to 2011, or between EUR 1.7 B and EUR 2 B in foreign direct investments. He added that the share of investments in the production sector is going up.

Stefanov further informed that in 2013, the expectations are for a German company, making parts and air conditioners for luxury cars, to build a factory in Bulgaria with 500 jobs. The investment amount is estimated at EUR 30 M.

"I am extremely pleased because in addition to production, the Germans want to outsource in Bulgaria part of their research activities. They have already been in touch with the technical universities in Plovdiv and Sofia and are now convinced that they could make this plan a reality," said he.

The other two interested automobile industry companies are also German and the forecast is for them to hire about 3 000 Bulgarian workers, according to him.

BAI has also talked to 4 – 5 businesses that plan to outsource in Bulgaria their accounting units such as a large producer of non-alcoholic beverages. In addition, there were several projects in the chemical and medical tourism industry.

Stefanov noted that many businessmen across the globe are still unaware of the huge advantages of Bulgaria, combining EU membership with microeconomic and political stability and low business costs.