Bulgaria Loses 500 Million Levs from Smuggling Standartnews - 2005/11/21
Bulgaria loses annually some 500 million levs (1euro=1.95levs) from smuggling, the latest statistics of the Center for the Study of Democracy shows.
The verification shows that Bulgaria's import and export equal 60-70% of Bulgaria's GDP. In the last several years, outright smuggling, which supplies the black market, is giving way to import of goods with forged documents at very low prices, or the so-called duty free import. The smuggling of Chinese goods has turned into one of the basic financial sources of the grey economy in Bulgaria.
The checkpoints at Kulata, Kalotina, Rousse and Kapitan Andreevo are some of the most risky and preferred for smuggling border checkpoints.