Bulgaria’s industrial business climate indicator rose to 16.3 in February 2026, up from 15.5 in January, reaching its highest level since April 2025. The improvement reflected firms’ more positive assessments of their current business situation (19.0 vs 16.6), stronger production expectations for the next three months (12.3 vs 10.5), and a better employment outlook (4.6 vs 1.8). By contrast, six‑month business expectations eased slightly (13.6 vs 14.5).
At the same time, current production activity weakened further (-9.2 vs -6.2), and total orders continued to contract (-22.1 vs -18.2), driven by deteriorating domestic demand (-21.9 vs -17.8) and foreign orders (-30.4 vs -26.4). Stocks of finished products declined marginally (-1.9 vs -2.1), while expectations for selling price increases moderated (8.8 vs 12.8). Uncertainty about the future business environment remained high, though it improved somewhat compared with the previous month (-9.2 vs -11.6).
