During the current year the market for information technologies will once again mark a 2-digit growth. According to the expectations it will be 10.3 % – less than the last year and compared to earlier prognoses, but still above 10. Among the reasons for the slight fall are the falling foreign investments which are expected to reach 5.5 billion Euro in 2008. Some of the prognoses made in the beginning of the year supposed a 20% growth.

In 2008 the expenses on IT products and services will probably form 2.7% of the GDP of Bulgaria. In comparison to the year before, they were 2.46%. These numbers put Bulgaria in one of the first places in the EU. The entire sector of information and communication technologies gives 8.4% of the GDP of the country.

About 50 million leva of the year income come from big international companies like SAP, IBM and HP.

The IT market in Bulgaria has a 900 million Euro turnover. For 2007 the sales in Software sector were between 200 and 230 million Euro, and the growth is 10-15%.

‘Bulgaria is currently an attractive country for the foreign business since the expenses on hiring labourers here are still smaller than the other parts of the EU’, said the SAP ambassador Les Hayman. ‘This will change in a few years, after all, and the level with other parts of the community will be equalized. For the moment, a talent war can be seen here, which aims attracting and keeping the good and talanted workers.’