The EXPAT CURRENCY BOARD WATCH shows the health of the currency board

11.02.2010

Expat Capital presented an indicator for the health of the currency board in the new economic bulletin Expat Compass. "The EXPAT CURRENCY BOARD WATCH summarizes our views about the lev/euro exchange rate. For the time being, we are optimistic about the currency board and see no immediate danger of devaluation", Mr. Nikolay Vassilev, the key author of the analysis, said. Expat Compass presents a list of 16 economic and political indicators and comments in charts and words about 7 of these 16.

Over 160 guests came to the Radisson Hotel for the presentation of the new economic bulletin. Mr. Nicola Yankov and Mr. Nikolay Vassilev, Managing Partners at Expat Capital, welcomed ambassadors, representatives of institutions, business and non-government organisations, partners and clients of Expat Capital, journalists. President Peter Stoyanov congratulated the Expat Compass team and stressed on the importance of presenting the currency board as a guarantee for the financial stability of the country.

Special guests at the event were Mr. Kalin Metodiev, Chairman of the Board of Bulgarian CFA Association – co-organizers of the event, and Mr. Lachezar Bogdanov, one of the most prominent Bulgarian economists and Managing Partner at Industry Watch. Mr. Bogdanov was also the author of the Guest Comment in the first issue of Expat Compass. In his analysis, he stressed on the fact that the Bulgarian economy has proved to be relatively flexible in times of overwhelming external shocks. "The employment figures also imply remarkable adjustability of the labour market - the suspected "bubble" sectors are the ones with the highest rate of lay-offs in just 9 months during 2009. All concerns for a massive capital flight from the country have not materialized. The contraction, though severe, still leaves a sizable amount of net positive capital inflows to the economy", Mr. Bogdanov said.

Expat Compass is distributed bi-monthly in electronic form free of charge, in Bulgarian and English. The idea of this product is to provide economic comments and forecasts focused on the analysis of a list of key indicators which give an overview of the Bulgarian economy.