After Switzerland, Cyprus, the islands - a tax haven and hiding places in their homes, the Greeks who still have some savings and are worried about the conditions of uncertainty in the economy seem to have also "discovered" Bulgaria, so they can protect their savings against unforeseeable events.
With a few "trumps up its sleeve," including the developing economy, but also the stability of its banking system, Bulgaria seems to be becoming a safe haven for Greek capital which is continuing, albeit at a slower pace these days, to tend to escape from local financial institutions.
Capital
"There's money that came from Greece, mainly during the last 6 months", said Antonis Hassiotis, head of Postbank, a subsidiary of EFG Eurobank in Bulgaria, stating that nobody can determine the exact amount received in Bulgarian banks. Migration of Greek capital to Bulgaria is recognized also by Athanasios Koutsopoulos, CEO of Piraeus Bulgaria, although, he was quick to clarify that in principle small amounts of a relatively limited number of individuals or companies were transferred, which do not represent a significant capital outflow.
"It would have been nice if the 50 billion Euros, which were transferred in the last two years abroad, had gone into the Greek banks in Bulgaria, because in this way, although indirectly, that liquidity would remain under the control of the Greek banking system, unfortunately however, most of them had other uses - mainly in Switzerland”, pointedly emphasizes Mr. Koutsopoulos. He stated that the capital transferred to Bulgaria, ranges from 100 to 300 000 Euros and in very few cases up to several million.
As one of the reasons for this phenomenon, Mr. Koutsopoulos indicates the atmosphere shaped by experts and "experts" about the future of the economy and how it connects to the security and stability of the local banking system.
Data from the Bulgarian National Bank show, however, that deposits in the Bulgarian banking system have increased, while local economic analysts attribute the increase in deposit inflows of savings from Greece and Romania.
Two countries that are facing serious problems - of a different nature for each of them - in their economy. Significantly, in August, according to the analysis of statistical data of the Bulgarian National Bank, it is clear that the amount of new deposits from individuals in Bulgarian banks totalled 603 million Bulgarian Leva (or slightly more than 305 million Euros), and 175 million Bulgarian Leva (or nearly 90 million Euros) over the course of the same month of last year. Accordingly, during the first eight months of 2011, the total deposits of individuals have increased by 3.3 billion Bulgarian Leva (or 1.7 billion Euros), reaching 30 billion Bulgarian Leva (or more than 15 billion Euros), representing a record amount for the country.
Companies
Meanwhile, corporate deposits have increased by 2.15 billion Bulgarian Leva (or more than 1.2 billion Euros), reaching 21.1 billion Bulgarian Leva (or about 11.5 billion Euros). Paradoxically, however, a study carried out in the country, shows that over the past five years only 45 percent of Bulgarians have had enough income to set money aside, and this was mainly amounts of up to 100 Bulgarian Leva (50 Euros) per month.
In statements to the Bulgarian media, local bankers admit that lately there has been a clear trend in Romanian and Greek investors (individuals or companies) opening accounts in Bulgarian banks, not only due to the stability of the Bulgarian financial system, but also because of the more attractive policy that banks apply in respect of interest rates.
As to the banking system itself, Mr. Hassiotis and Mr. Koutsopoulos stress that it is particularly stable and that the five banks with Greek participation, active in Bulgaria continue to play an important role in holding shares ranging between 25 -30 percent, depending on the criteria (assets, deposits, loans), on the basis of which the comparison is made.
Hidden secret
"Bulgaria is the hidden secret of Europe", emphasizes Mr. Hassiotis in order to express the healthy state of the Bulgarian economy: it now has a budget surplus, government debt represents only 14 percent of GDP and growth rate this year is estimated at 2 percent to 2.5 percent of GDP.
"Economic conditions are better, the tax regime is more favorable, and living costs are lower", notes the head of Postbank, by way of explaining the tendency to transfer capital and the transfer of Greek companies to Bulgaria (let us remind you that, according to Bulgarian authorities, during the first 6 months of 2011 alone, about 800 Greek firms transferred their activities to the neighbouring country).
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