The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) celebrated its 100th anniversary on Tuesday.

On April 15, 1914, the BSE was created through a decree of Tsar Ferdinand, investor.bg reports.

"According to the decree, the first real joint stock company was created in 1862,' said Rumen Sokolov from BSE-Sofia in an interview for Bulgaria On Air TV

He explained that the preconditions for the establishment of joint stock companies had subsequently created the need for a regulated market.

Sokolov noted that the BSE has not gotten off to a good start in 1914 as Bulgaria had entered World War I the same year.

He informed that the first deals had been concluded in 1917, with trade livening up after 1919.

Sokolov said that the legal framework for the BSE had been created as late as1995 with the adoption of the Securities, Stock Exchanges and Investment Companies Act, adding that the Central Depository, the only organization in Bulgaria providing settlement of corporate securities in book-entry form, had been set up in 1996.

"The actual development of the local capital market started in 2000 with the introduction of the electronic system," the BSE representative noted.