Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition | Page 6

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 (2?, 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 L?nderbank and Bankverein at 85?. In 1892 a further 6% loan of 142,780,000 fr. (��5,711,200) was contracted with the L?nderbank 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'��tat de Russie and the Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas at 81?, 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 4?% 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 was thus raised to upwards of 450,000,000 fr. The Eastern Rumelian tribute and the rent of the Sarambey-Belovo railway, if capitalized