Bulgaria’s industrial business climate index rose to 17.2 in July 2026 from 16.1 in June, but remained below its long-term average of 21.4. The improvement was driven by a better assessment of the current business situation (20.4 vs 18.3 in June), while expectations for the next six months were unchanged at 14.0.
Despite the more positive sentiment, actual activity weakened: current production declined further (-5.4 vs -3.3), and total orders fell more sharply (-20.2 vs -17.9), with both domestic (-24.8 vs -22.1) and foreign orders (-26.5 vs -25.6) deteriorating. Production expectations softened slightly (8.4 vs 8.7), and employment expectations turned negative (-1.8 vs 0.7).
Labour shortages became a somewhat more significant constraint (reported by 33.3% of firms vs 32.4%), alongside increasing concerns about weaker domestic (26.2% vs 25.3%) and foreign demand (25.3% vs 22.4%). At the same time, worries about the uncertain economic environment eased somewhat (43.6% vs 46.9%).
