57% of Bulgarian Companies to Pay Christmas Bonuses

The majority of companies in the industry sector will give their employees Christmas bonus payments, according to a survey of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA).

According to the survey, ordered by private TV station bTV, 57% of companies in Bulgaria will pay employees a Christmas bonus, while 15% cannot afford the measure, and 28% of the managers have not decided yet.

2/3 of managers say that bonus payments are tied to the anticipated financial results at the end of 2014.

27% of companies will give Christmas bonus payments of up to BGN 100 to their employees, 35% will pay extra sums of BGN 100-300 and 38% will hand out holiday bonuses of over BGN 300.

"GDP growth is expected to stand at 1-1.5%. Apart from that, a large number of companies have topped sales targets and optimized costs, which allows them to make bigger profits. The plans for Christmas bonus payments are probably tied to the improved forecasts about financial results,"said BICA Executive Director Dobrin Ivanov, as cited by investor.bg.