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The Bulgarian government is planning to earmark some BGN150-160mn (US$98.65-105.23mn) in additional funding for healthcare in 2013, the government's press service cited Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as saying in October 2012 . The funds are expected to be used to purchase new equipment, upgrade hospitals and general ly improve Bulgarian health services. We have long highlighted the likelihood of increased public spending ahead of the 2013 parliamentary election, although we do not foresee significant risks to fiscal sustainability , given that Bulgaria has the second lowest public d ebt load in the European Union - at 17.5% of GDP (end-2011). However, as BMI has been warning since February 2012, the government has pushed ahead with changes to Bulgaria's pricing and reimbursement regime. For example, the external reference pricing mechanism for pharmaceuticals, which now takes into account 12 countries - up from eight previously - is expected to have a negative effect on the prices of a number of medicines listed for reimbursement.
Headline Expenditure Projections
Pharmaceuticals : BGN2.10bn (US$1.49bn) in 2011 to BGN2.23bn (US$1.44bn) in 2012; +6.1% in local currency terms and -3.3% in US dollar terms. Forecast unchanged since Q412.
Healthcare: BGN5.12bn (US$3.64bn) in 2011 to BGN5.22bn (US$3.38bn) in 2012; +1.9% in local currency terms and -7.1% in US dollar terms. Forecast unchanged since Q412.
Medical Devices: BGN281mn (US$200mn) in 2011 to BGN285mn (US$185mn) in 2012; +1.7% in local currency terms and -7.4% in US dollar terms. Forecast unchanged since Q412.
Competitive Landscape
The competitive landscape section provides comparative company analyses and rankings by US$ sales and % share of total sales - for the total pharmaceutical sector, as well as the OTC, generics, and distribution sub-sectors.