11.11.2011 VM Finance Group took part in the economic forum “The Consumption factor”, organized by “Manager”

Bulgaria is in an excellent performer when it comes to macroeconomic indicators, but still one of the major challenges that the national economy faces  is shrinking consumption. How bulgarian business can stimulate its growth despite all the negative signals of financial instability and continuing crisis?

The answer to this question sought government officials, business leaders and banks’ representatives  on the economic forum "The Consumption factor", organized by the magazine "Manager". It was  held on 7th of November in Sofia. The participants discussed policies of stimulating the consumption and good business practices for sales promotion.

Among the main participants in the two panels were Minister of Economy and Energy Mr. Traycho Traykov, the first Bulgarian European Commissioner in charge of Consumer Protection  Meglena Kuneva, Veselin Zlatev - Chairman of State Commission for Consumer Protection, Mr. Hampartzoumian - CEO and Chairman of UniCredit Bulbank, Mr Vassil Mirtchev – Chairman of the Board of directors of VM Finance Group, Mr Jan Skvaril – Managing director of Avendi OOD  and Christoph Schulte - member of the Board of directors of "Metro Cash and Carry Bulgaria".

"This is the first crisis of capitalism in modern history, which we are witnessing in Bulgaria - both business and consumers.” – says Mr Vassil Mirtchev. “It may sound a bit shocking, but “Thank God that this crisis came to Bulgaria”! It is an objective incentive, which will force us to change our culture of consumption. The consumption already has a new definition. That’s why it is important that the business shows a new corporate-social responsibility by establishing those acts, practices and policies that can lead to resistance of consumption  and investment.

After the initial recession and the subsequent contraction of consumption, I saw a positive reflex. Companies started listening more carefully  to consumers’ requirements. Which in turn was followed by another positive effect - the quality of products increased." – thinks the owner of VM Finance Group.

There is no question - consumers have become more conservative in their choices and when making purchase they are seeking maximum value for the money they are willing to spend – thinks Mr. Jan Skvaril. As a company that trades with high quality products the CEO of Avendi says that its sales continue to grow. However, he is convinced that when the consumers are aware of the qualities and advantages of the offered goods they feel motivated to buy. Because although they have become more conservative because of the crisis, they are still curious and willing to experiment.

The forum showed that Bulgaria pushed back from the bottom of the consumption drop and the indicator slowly but permanently is going up. For the first time since 2008 in the second quarter of this year the share of domestic consumption in GDP has increased, but  it is still  hard to say whether this is temporary or stable trend. Over the next two years the analysts of Unicredit Bulbank expect growth in consumption of 1.9% for 2012 and 2.3% for 2013.