epa
(Support) Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union; Bulgarian
Democratic Youth (formerly Communist Youth Union); Confederation
of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB);
Committee for Defense of National Interests;
Peasant Youth League; National Coalition of Extraparliamentary
Political Forces;
numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest groups with various
agendas

_#_Member of: BIS, CCC, CSCE, ECE, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBEC,
ICAO, IIB, ILO, IMO, INMARSAT, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, PCA, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Ognyan PISHEV;
Chancery at 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202)
387-7969;

US--Ambassador H. Kenneth HILL; Embassy at 1 Alexander Stamboliski
Boulevard, Sofia (mailing address is APO New York 09213-5740);
telephone [359] (2) 88-48-01 through 05

_#_Flag: three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red;
the national emblem formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe has
been removed--it contained a rampant lion within a wreath of wheat ears
below a red five-pointed star and above a ribbon bearing the dates 681
(first Bulgarian state established) and 1944 (liberation from Nazi
control)

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: Growth in the lackluster Bulgarian economy fell to the
2% annual level in the 1980s. By 1990 Sofia's foreign debt had
skyrocketed to over $10 billion--giving a debt service ratio of more
than 40% of hard currency earnings and leading the regime to declare
a moratorium on its hard currency payments. The post-Zhivkov regime
faces major problems of renovating an aging industrial plant;
coping with worsening energy, food, and consumer goods shortages;
keeping abreast of rapidly unfolding technological developments;
investing in additional energy capacity (the portion of electric
power from nuclear energy reached over one-third in 1990); and
motivating workers, in part by giving them a share in the earnings of
their enterprises. A major decree of January 1989 summarized and
extended the government's economic restructuring efforts, which include
a partial decentralization of controls over production decisions and
foreign trade. In October 1990 the Lukanov government proposed an
economic reform program based on a US Chamber of Commerce study. It was
never instituted because of a political stalemate between the BSP and the
UDF. The new Popov government launched a similar reform program i