Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition | Page 6

due to the variations of the harvest,
on which the prosperity of the country practically depends:--
Year. Exports. Imports. Total.
£ £ £ 1899 2,138,684 2,407,123 4,545,807 1900 2,159,305 1,853,684
4,012,989 1901 3,310,790 2,801,762 6,112,552 1902 4,147,381
2,849,059 7,996,440 1903 4,322,945 3,272,103 7,595,048 1904
6,304,756 5,187,583 11,492,339
The principal exports are cereals, live stock, homespuns, hides, cheese,
eggs, attar of roses. Exports to the United Kingdom in 1900 were
valued at £239,665; in 1904 at £989,127. The principal imports are
textiles, metal goods, colonial goods, implements, furniture, leather,
petroleum. Imports from the United Kingdom in 1900, £301,150; in
1904, £793,972.
The National Bank, a state institution with a capital of £400,000, has its
central establishment at Sofia, and branches at Philippopolis, Rustchuk,
Varna, Trnovo and Burgas. Besides conducting the ordinary banking
operations, it issues loans on mortgage. Four other banks have been
founded at Sofia by groups of foreign and native capitalists. There are
several private banks in the country. The Imperial Ottoman Bank and
the Industrial Bank of Kiev have branches at Philippopolis and Sofia
respectively. The agricultural chests, founded by Midhat Pasha in 1863,
and reorganized in 1894, have done much to rescue the peasantry from
the hands of usurers. They serve as treasuries for the local

administration, accept deposits at interest, and make loans to the
peasants on mortgage or the security of two solvent landowners at 8%.
Their capital in 1887 was £569,260; in 1904, £1,440,000. Since 1893
they have been constituted as the "Bulgarian Agricultural Bank"; the
central direction is at Sofia. The post-office savings bank, established
1896, had in 1905 a capital of £1,360,560.
There are over 200 registered provident societies in the country. The
legal rate of interest is 10%, but much higher rates are not uncommon.
Bulgaria, like the neighbouring states of the Peninsula, has adopted the
metric system. Turkish weights and measures, however, are still largely
employed in local commerce. The monetary unit is the lev, or "lion" (pl.
leva), nominally equal to the franc, with its submultiple the stotinka (pl.
-ki), or centime. The coinage consists of nickel and bronze coins (2½, 5,
10 and 20 stotinki) and silver coins [v.04 p.0776] (50 stotinki; 1, 2 and
5 leva). A gold coinage was struck in 1893 with pieces corresponding
to those of the Latin Union. The Turkish pound and foreign gold coins
are also in general circulation. The National Bank issues notes for 5, 10,
20, 50 and 100 leva, payable in gold. Notes payable in silver are also
issued.
Finance.--It is only possible here to deal with Bulgarian finance prior
to the declaration of independence in 1908. At the outset of its career
the principality was practically unencumbered with any debt, external
or internal. The stipulations of the Berlin Treaty (Art. ix.) with regard
to the payment of a tribute to the sultan and the assumption of an
"equitable proportion" of the Ottoman Debt were never carried into
effect. In 1883 the claim of Russia for the expenses of the occupation
(under Art. xx. of the treaty) was fixed at 26,545,625 fr. (£1,061,820)
payable in annual instalments of 2,100,000 fr. (£84,000). The union
with Eastern Rumelia in 1885 entailed liability for the obligations of
that province consisting of an annual tribute to Turkey of 2,951,000 fr.
(£118,040) and a loan of 3,375,000 fr. (£135,000) contracted with the
Imperial Ottoman Bank. In 1888 the purchase of the Varna-Rustchuk
railway was effected by the issue of treasury bonds at 6% to the
vendors. In 1889 a loan of 30,000,000 fr. (£1,200,000) bearing 6%

interest was contracted with the Vienna Länderbank and Bankverein at
85½. In 1892 a further 6% loan of 142,780,000 fr. (£5,711,200) was
contracted with the Länderbank at 83, 86 and 89. In 1902 a 5% loan of
106,000,000 fr. (£4,240,000), secured on the tobacco dues and the
stamp-tax, was contracted with the Banque de l'État de Russie and the
Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas at 81½, for the purpose of
consolidating the floating debt, and in 1904 a 5% loan of 99,980,000 fr.
(£3,999,200) at 82, with the same guarantees, was contracted with the
last-named bank mainly for the purchase of war material in France and
the construction of railways. In January 1906 the national debt stood as
follows:--Outstanding amount of the consolidated loans, 363,070,500 fr.
(£14,522,820); internal debt, 15,603,774 fr. (£624,151); Eastern
Rumelian debt, 1,910,208 (£76,408). In February 1907 a 4½% loan of
145,000,000 fr. at 85, secured on the surplus proceeds of the revenues
already pledged to the loans of 1902 and 1904, was contracted with the
Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas associated with some German and
Austrian banks for the conversion of the loans of 1888 and 1889
(requiring about 53,000,000 fr.) and for railway construction and other
purposes. The total external debt