Traicho Traikov, Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, has refuted claims that Bulgaria is losing German investors.

"Germany remains a leading investor in Bulgaria and has retained its 5th place in the ranking for 15 years with total investments of over EUR 2.7 B," Traikov said in Parliament on Friday.

His statement came in response to a question of Meglena Plugchieva, MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU funds absorption, who asked if German investors were running away or if they were being chased out.

Traikov explained that a total of 169 German companies had made positive investments worth EUR 132 M in the period January-October 2011.

At the same time, 59 companies had returned a total of EUR 308 M in loans to the parent companies, the Economy Minister informed.

He also said that two major German firms had invested over EUR 200 M in Bulgaria and had created over 150 jobs in Bulgaria in 2011.

"I do not know about you, but to us this is a sign of trustworthiness. Not only German but all other processing companies with foreign owners are doing well," Traikov declared.

He attributed the withdrawal of German media group WAZ and German power utility EON to business restructuring decisions that did not only affect Bulgaria.

The Economy Minister went on to cite data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) and of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showing that Bulgaria's export to Germany came in at over EUR 2 B for the first nine months of 2011, compared to EUR 1.66 for the entire 2010.

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