SOFIA (Bulgaria), November 8 (SeeNews) – Poverty and poor governance are among the main reasons why Bulgaria is only showing 'modest improvement' in its delivery of prosperity, according to the 2016 Legatum Prosperity Index issued in November.
While Bulgaria has made some progress in terms of improving the environment, the business conditions and the so-called social capital index measuring the social network support and the civic participation in a country, this has not been enough to make a significant improvement in Bulgaria’s ranking, the Legatum Institute said in a summary of its annual ranking.
Despite moving three positions up in the last decade, Bulgaria remains the lowest-ranked among the 28 EU member states, according to the ranking.
London-based Legatum Institute is an international think-tank and educational charity focused on understanding, measuring, and explaining the journey from poverty to prosperity for individuals, communities and nations.
According to the index, Bulgaria’s economy has stabilized since the 2008 financial crisis but there has been a lack of concerted policy efforts to further boost growth and competitiveness.
Another major issue is the corruption, constraining the economy with vested interests. Bulgaria has fallen 25 positions in the Governance sub-index over the past decade, ranking it the lowest in the whole European Union.
The Prosperity Index deems Bulgaria’s anti-monopoly policies the least effective in the EU.
Widespread and increasing poverty is yet another considerable cause for concern, noted by the Prosperity Index. Around 22% of the population lives below the national poverty line, while over 2% live below the absolute poverty line, which represents the highest percentage in the EU. Only 5% of people that were polled felt they were living comfortably on their current income.
“For future prosperity, it is important that Bulgaria push through reforms that not only boost growth but also reduce its widespread poverty. Likewise, ineffective governance, organised crime, and corruption need to be addressed,” Legatum concludes.