Name: Piritta Sorsa
From: Hämeenlinna, Finland

Piritta took over as Bulgaria's IMF resident representative last summer, a posting which allowed her to return to the country she discovered long ago. Content that Bulgaria is continuing down the road to growth, Piritta spends what little free time she has enjoying all Sofia and the rest of the country has to offer.

Piritta first stumbled upon Bulgaria while travelling the region by train.

As a student in the 1980s, she decided to explore Eastern Europe while on a break from school. "I stopped here on my way from Istanbul to Zagreb for a few days with a friend," said the resident representative of the International Monetary Fund. "And then we explored Bulgaria. From those days, I already had a fond and warm memory of the country."

Piritta became reacquainted with Bulgaria in 1999 working with the country's IMF team under mission chief Juha Kahkonen. Her job required her to travel here twice in the first half of that year. "Then also I got a very good impression of the country. People were friendly and nice and Bulgaria seemed to want to go ahead with reforms," she said.

Working with this team eventually led Piritta to the position of resident representative last summer. Interested in relocating to Bulgaria, once the posting became available, she applied for the job and got it.

Having seen the country back when she was a student and periodically in 1999, the changes have been obvious. "It's totally different," she said. "I know the country went through some very rough times early in this decade and especially the crisis of 1996 and 1997, and people's incomes may not be yet at the level they were in early 1990s, but I think incomes are going up.

"There's a lot more outside cafes, there's more people outside, there's a lot more shops and the private sector is giving a certain dynamism to the country which I think I didn't see when I was here before, especially in the 1980s."

Her work in Bulgaria involves acting as an intermediary between the Government and the IMF's headquarters in Washington, helping the latter better understand the economic climate in the country. It also includes ensuring that all IMF programmes are properly implemented and followed, and helping Bulgarians understand the IMF's role and why they recommend the things they do.

The IMF's latest move was the approval of a two-year credit line for the country, worth $300 million. Discussions for the programme began last September through a series of three IMF missions, explained Piritta, and the IMF approved the credit line two weeks ago.

"The money is one thing," she said. "But maybe the even more important thing is the support to the policies of the Government. We support the whole policy framework that should ensure that Bulgaria continues to have macroeconomic stability and continues a transition through reforms that should ensure that the country continues to grow."

Although her work keeps her pretty busy, Piritta has managed to make it to the Black Sea coast and to Borovets on a ski excursion. She's also seen Rila monastery and Plovdiv, and particularly enjoyed Bansko. "I liked little Bansko. It has charm and excellent food."

Photography also provides a source relaxation for her, as does rollerblading and jogging. She's also currently on the fast track to mastering the Bulgarian language. "I'm learning it intensively," she said. "I can get by in restaurants and shops, but I have a teacher who comes twice a week."

She's still growing accustomed to the Bulgarian winter, which caught her a little off guard. "I was very surprised there was so much snow here. It reminded me of my youth in Finland."

The typical policy of the IMF is to place a resident in a country for a period of two years, at the end of which the term can be extended for a third year. However, having been here still less than a year, Piritta isn't sure what the future holds. "It depends on my family situation, and other things," she said.

When her time here draws to a close, she'll be bound for Washington at least for a little while. "I'm a permanent employee of the IMF in Washington," she said. "I was living there before I came here."

While she's not sure where she might work after Washington, she has some preferences. "I'd maybe like to work in some European transition countries. I'm interested in the transition process."

And speaking of transition, things are moving along nicely in Bulgaria, even though Piritta acknowledges that incomes are still low. "There may still be some difficult times to come because the restructuring of the economy is not finished. But I think it's the right direction that Bulgaria is going. If you look at the experiences of other transition countries, they have all started to grow and incomes have increased - but they all went through this painful period. Incomes initially went down and then they started to go up, and I think Bulgaria is now already at sort of the upward path.

"But there is still a long way to go."

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