INDUSTRIES AND TRADES

SKETCH OF THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE

PRINCIPALITY

BULGARIA is an agricultural country. The

prosperity of the inhabitants depends almost entirely on the harvests, which in

consequence serve as a criterion for judging the economic state of the country.

The consequences of a good or bad harvest are felt not only in agricultural

circles but in commerce, trades, and industries, and this to such an extent

that to judge whether the harvest of any year was good or bad one has only to

look at the statistics of trade with other countries. The extent of foreign trade

is in direct proportion with the crops : a good harvest is followed by a great

increase of trade with foreign countries, which a bad harvest almost

immediately paralyses.

It is easy to see the truth of this

statement from the following table, where the figures for grain export are

compared with the figures for the general foreign trade (both import and

export) for a period of ten years.

Yew.      Imports.

Francs. Exports.

Francs. Total.

Francs. Export

of cereals. Francs.

Z894 ..  99,229,193          72,850,675          172,079,868        55,871,305

1895 ..  69,020,295          77,685,546          146,705,841        60,473,405

1896 ..  76,530,278          108,739,977        185,270,255        94,089,072

1897 ..  83,994,236          59,790,511          143,784,747        46,418,601

I898 ..   72,730,250          66,537,007          139,267,257        48,491,343

Year.     Imports.

Franca. Exports.

Francs. Total.

Francs. Export

of cereals. Francs.

1899 ..  60,178,079          53,467,099          113,645,178        32,801,247

1900 . . 46,342,100          53,982,629          100,324,729        27,128,280

I9OI . .   70,044,073          82,769,759          152,813,832        51,717,228

1902 ..  71,246,492          103,684,530        174,931,022        63,699,691

1903 ..  81,802,281          108,073,639        189,876,220        74,215,803

Importance of our foreign trade

On the other hand the importance of our foreign trade may be estimated by the operations of the Bulgarian National Bank, which is chiefly occupied with exchange and current accounts operations. It has been established during the last ten years that the exchange operations and the amount of current accounts which correspond to years with good harvests differ considerably from those of years with poor crops. This may be seen from the following table :   

Whatever may be the importance of the

agricultural exports—and the progress made in the development of this branch

gives confident hope for the future—Bulgaria cannot be called a rich country.

As in all agricultural countries, our sole source of national wealth is the

land. Industries are only beginning; agriculture itself is carried on by the

expansive system, whereas it is the intensive system which is generally a

characteristic of rich agricultural countries and advanced cultivation.