-  30  -

**Table 21:** _The differences between Bulgaria’s exports and other CEEC- and SEE-economies in terms of factor intensities in 1996, 2000 and 2003 (in percentage points and in percent)_

|||199|6|||200|0|||200|3||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||NR|UL|CI|SL|NR|UL|CI|SL|NR|UL|CI|SL|
|CEEC-8|-12.1|4.3|-3.9|8.2|-16.6|-9.3|10.6|13.8|-16.4|-15.2|14.6|16.3|
|Of which: Lithuania|5.5|3.1|-6.4|-2.2|8.5|-1.1|-1.5|-5.8|6.1|-3.7|-0.7|-1.7|
|Croatia|-4.9|17.9|-4.2|-8.8|-1.9|7.2|1.8|-7.1|-5.0|1.4|7.6|-4.0|
|Romania|-15.0|21.9|-8.4|1.5|-12.9|14.2|-0.1|-1.1|-11.3|8.3|0.1|2.9|
|SEE-4|17.1|2.0|-15.8|-5.3|9.0|-2.6|-10.0|2.4|13.9|-7.7|-7.5|0.1|
|**_Memorandum_**:Shareinper<br>|centin<br>|Bulgari<br>|a's total<br>|export<br>|s<br>||||||||
|Bulgaria|37.7|17.1|28.3|16.9|35.2|27.1|21.5|16.2|34.0|32.2|18.9|14.9|

Notes: NR—natural resource intensive products; UL-unskilled labor intensive products; CI-capital intensive products; SLskilled labor intensive products. SEE-4 countries include Albania, Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia and Montenegro. Because of lack of data, Bosnian and Herzegovina is not included. Source: Derived from countries’ data in UN COMTRADE database.

The 1996-2003 period has seen shifts in factor content of Bulgaria’s exports vis-à-vis its regional peers that in most CEEC-8 took place during the initial stages of transition in 1991-95. First, exports of CEEC-8 moved towards capital intensive products: their share was 11 percentage points higher than in Bulgaria’s exports in 2000 and rose further to 15 percentage points in 2003. Similar change has occurred in skilled labor intensive products, with the gap widening from 8 percentage points in 1996 to 16 percentage points in 2003. This shift is also visible when compared with Lithuania, an economy with a heavy presence of natural resource intensive exports. Lithuania moved between 1996 and 2003 away from unskilled labor intensive exports to capital and skilled labor intensive products in comparison to Bulgaria.

Second, the difference in relative factor intensities vis-à-vis its northern neighbor, Romania, has narrowed mainly as a result of the growth in Bulgaria’s exports of unskilled labor intensive product and the fall in the share of skilled labor intensive products in total exports. Romania’s export basket has moved more towards capital and skilled labor intensive products in comparison with Bulgaria. Last but not least, SEE-4 exports moved between 2000 and 2003 relative to Bulgaria’s exports towards natural resource intensive products.

Data in Table 22 provide another set of insights based on dynamics of total exports. Lithuania’s export basket in terms of relative factor intensities was the closest to that of Bulgaria in the 1996-2003 period. In Lithuania’s exports, however, the share of natural resource and unskilled labor intensive was slightly larger in 1996. The situation changed already in 2000 indicating growing differences in the dynamics of exports in terms of their factor intensities, although among European transition economies Lithuania’s composition of exports has remained the most similar to that of Bulgaria.

**Table 22:** _Change in shares and dynamics of total exports in comparative perspective in 1996-2003 (in_ _<u>percent)</u>_

|||Index,<br>1996=|2000;<br>100|||Index<br>2000=|2003;<br>100||**_Memorandum_**: Index of total exports<br>in 2000 and 2003 in terms of value|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||NR|UL|CI|SL|NR|UL|CI|SL|1996=100<br>2000=100|
|_Bulgaria_|_93_|_158_|_76_|_96_|_97_|_119_|_88_|_92_|_99_<br>_156_|
|CEEC-8 (2004 EU)|73|83|132|119|95|95|104|104|142<br>164|
|Of which: Lithuania|101|128|92|70|92|110|91|127|113<br>188|
|Croatia|102|98|97|111|87|98|113|121|91<br>139|
|Romania|98|106|108|81|102|98|89|119|128<br>170|
|SEE-4|81|128|93|160|109|100|98|81|97<br>130|

Notes: NR—natural resource intensive; UL—unskilled labor intensive; CI—capital intensive; SL—skilled labor intensive Source: Derived from countries’ data in UN COMTRADE database.

However, change in shares and dynamics of total exports shows that (a) Lithuania experienced a stronger growth in both periods and (b) exports of skilled labor products replaced