Bulgarian think-tank Industry Watch says that a snap opinion poll at the beginning of October found that the leading fears among Bulgarians because of the global financial crisis were that they would lose their jobs and face higher interest rates on loans.

The results of the poll were released at a news conference on November 18 2008.

Industry Watch's Lachezar Bogdanov said that relatively few people were in a position to live on their savings and so feared losing their salaries.

The report emerged on the same day that Bulgarian-language media reported that Cabinet projections were that between 40 000 and 50 000 people would be left jobless in Bulgaria in 2009 because of the global economic crisis.

Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova said that the Government would try to keep unemployment at less than seven per cent in 2009, compared with the current 5.4 per cent unemployment.

Bulgarian Industrial Association head Bozhidar Danev was quoted by mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa as predicting that 2500 of Bulgaria's 5000 construction companies would go bankrupt next year. This would have a negative knock-on effect on business linked to the construction industry, Danev said.

A report by mass-circulation daily Trud the previous day quoted Danev as saying that many industrial plants were preparing for redundancies, and the situation was complicated further by what he described as the imminent dismissal of 1600 workers at Bulgaria's steel behemoth Kremikovtzi. Unemployment at Kremikovtzi would mean job losses in sectors such as ports and railways, Danev said.

On November 18, it was reported that employees at Stomana Industry steel manufacturer in Bulgaria's industrial town of Pernik were being sent on compulsory paid leave because the plant lacked orders, a result of the global financial crisis and of falling metal prices. The company has laid off 300 of its 1100 employees but says that no further redundancies are expected.

At the Roudmetal company in Roudozem, southern Bulgaria, 200 miners were sent on compulsory paid leave because of the company's financial woes, caused by falling ore prices. A skeleton staff has been left on duty to maintain equipment but the company faces bankruptcy unless ore price trends turn around, Bulgarian media reports said.