"Scientific research" Almanac

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  REASONS FOR THE CHANGES IN THE VOLUME AND QUALITY OF INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS' LOANS PROVIDED BY COMMERCIAL BANKS IN BULGARIA

  The high credit activities of commercial banks in Bulgaria as regards citizens and households just before the consequences of the global economic crisis, as well as the efforts of local people to maintain a quality standard of living, are the main reasons which increase the burden of individual customers’ loans in the loan portfolio of bank ... The high credit activities of commercial banks in Bulgaria as regards citizens and households just before the consequences of the global economic crisis, as well as the efforts of local people to maintain a quality standard of living, are the main reasons which increase the burden of individual customers’ loans in the loan portfolio of bank institutions. The worsening of economic indicators in the country after the beginning of 2009 forces the banking institutions to change their behaviour on the credit market and to seek effective ways to limit the ever increasing non-performing loans among the population. The purpose of the current study is to trace the tendencies in the change of volume and quality of the banks’ overall consumer loan portfolio for the period December 2006 – June 2012, and to outline the main reasons of the worsened quality of loans extended to individuals for current needs by the local commercial banks.

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  FREE ZONES AS A TOOL OF STATE ECONOMIC REGULATION

  Free zones emerge at a certain stage in the development of national economy as a new form of interaction in foreign trade and foreign economic relations of a country. Duty free zones are one of the most common types of free zones. The balanced achievement of a variety of goals by creating free zones leads to the conclusion that they can also be a ... Free zones emerge at a certain stage in the development of national economy as a new form of interaction in foreign trade and foreign economic relations of a country. Duty free zones are one of the most common types of free zones. The balanced achievement of a variety of goals by creating free zones leads to the conclusion that they can also be a tool of state economic regulation. Although there are almost all conditions for the development of free zones in Bulgaria, their activities, and hence their importance for our country, are on the decrease. The question arising is how to change that. The following trends in the development of free zones in Bulgaria can be outlined as very important: changing the regulatory requirements for tenants concerning the technological level and type of productions carried out in the free zones; tax incentives for investors; turning the free zones into industrial sites which use new technologies; using the regime approach in creating free zones in Bulgaria; authorizing a state agency to organize, coordinate and monitor the activities of the free zones in the country; and setting priority objectives in the operation of the free zones. This will provide opportunities for identifying the exact location and role of free zones and will make them an effective tool for state economic regulation.

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  RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR INVESTMENT SELECTION – THEORY AND PRACTICE

  The paper reviews risk assessment for selection of investments in terms of em-pirical derivation and estimation of beta coefficients on the capital market in Bulgaria. It aims to develop some theoretical aspects regarding risk assessment for investment se-lection as well as to provide empirical derivation and trend analysis of the beta ... The paper reviews risk assessment for selection of investments in terms of em-pirical derivation and estimation of beta coefficients on the capital market in Bulgaria. It aims to develop some theoretical aspects regarding risk assessment for investment se-lection as well as to provide empirical derivation and trend analysis of the beta coeffi-cient values of leading Bulgarian public companies included in the SOFIX index. The paper is structured in four main parts according to its subject matter, goal and objec-tives. The first part reviews the current objectives and the theoretical grounds of in-vestment management. The second part focuses on the possibilities to include risk into the investment analysis. The third part analyzes the methodological framework for in-vestment selection. The fourth part presents an empirical study of the beta coefficients of the SOFIX companies for the period 2007-2012, identifies trends and proposes cor-porate grouping according to their capacity to restore market capitalization to the pre-crisis levels. The results show that two of the leading Bulgarian companies (i.e. 13.3% of the total number of companies in the index) have betas exceeding 1.25 (based on monthly data for the period Sept. 2007 - Sept. 2012), seven companies (46.7% of the index) have beta coefficients between 0.75 and 1.25 and six companies (40% of the index) have conservative betas of less than 0.75.