Company debts soar in Bulgaria

Agence France-Presse

"The dramatic increase in debt at the end of 2007, while GDP (gross domestic product) is set to stagnate this year, poses a grave threat to the economy," the association wrote in a new report.

With debt exceeding 52 percent of capital and growing faster than revenues, companies "will be unable to repay their debt over the next few years as growth slows sharply."

The Bulgarian economy has been able to notch up impressive growth in recent years, with GDP expanding by an annual average 6.0 percent over the past eight years.