Sofia Investment Profile 2017

Although Sofia was not spared by the economic crisis of 2008-2009, the recession was not as deep as that in national production by far. Besides, the capital city managed to overcome the recession’s consequences as early as 2010 which indicates the resistance of the capital’s economy to changes in the economic cycle and shocks coming from outside. The crisis left its imprint on the structure of Sofia’s economy. The most significant change in that structure that resulted from the recession of 2009 was the crisis in construction. That sector shrank to almost double to less than 5% of the local economy in 2016. Simultaneously, processing industries increased their weight in the local economy after considerable investment in pharmaceuticals, car parts, cosmetics, optics etc. By 2016 processing industries had a share of 10.6% or over 2 percentage points more than its share prior to the crisis.