Messenger - Vol. 1, No. 3, Page 11 Spring 1992 Business down but not out in Bulgaria In the Black Sea port of Varna, shipyards are trying to find new customers whose vessels need repair and who can afford to pay. Their last big customer-Russia- can no longer do so, and the Bulgarians want to avoid becoming destitute themselves. Last June, the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) awarded the University a $1.5 million grant to assist Bulgaria's transition to a free market economy. After a series of planning meetings in Newark, University professors embarked on a one-year program to teach the country's leaders, teachers and business people the basic elements of supply and demand and business management. Faculty members began traveling to Bulgaria last July. In the first six months, they taught more than 600 managers, government officials and students at universities in Sophia and Varna. Kenneth Koford, an associate professor of economics, has spent four months in Bulgaria since the program began. Acting as consultants to business people and government leaders, he says the University's representatives have found Bulgarians slow to understand the concept of teamwork in the production of goods or service. Many of Bulgaria's enterprises are family-run, he says, and people don't seem to trust strangers enough to work with them. "The economy is in a big recession," Koford says. "Conditions are real bad, but government policy is not bad." Last year, he says, runaway inflation hit its highest peak-at 200 percent per month. The astounding jump in prices followed the removal of price controls, which the Communist Party had used for years. More recently, the growth in prices has slowed to about 4 percent per month. Inflation has been checked by the Bulgarian government's choice not to print new currency simply to make cash available, Koford says. Still, the country is in trouble. The Bulgarian economy relied heavily on ship repair work, factory orders and tourism, Koford says. With most of central and eastern Europe in turmoil, very little business has come Bulgaria's way. Despite the difficulties, he says, "Bulgarians are committed to a market economy." -Stephen Steenkamer, Delaware '92