Lubomir Lubenov, Anelia Lyubenova
BULGARIA’S FINANCIAL MARKETS IN AGRIBUSINESS – SIZE, STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT TRENDS
Summary:
The aim of the study is to establish the size, structure and financing trends of Bulgaria’s agribusiness. Improving the liquidity and turnover of short-term assets of farms is a goal of paramount importance because it also improves profitability. This necessitates diversification of the sources and instruments to finance the operating capital, such as credits, leasing, factoring, forfeiting, etc. At micro- and macro-level, the provision of information for financial management purposes should be improved to facilitate the access to public and corporate financial markets of short-term and long-term funds for the agribusiness. Public financial markets in Bulgaria’s agribusiness grew steadily from over BGN 1 billion/year during the first reference period of the common agricultural policy of the EU (2007–2013) to BGN 4 billion/year at the end of the 2014–2020 period. They also played an important role in generating reciprocal company financing of over BGN 3 billion/year of over BGN 7 billion/year of all financing in the sector. Structurally, short-term financing accounts for more than 2/3 to 3/4 of all financing.