Geofinance between Political and Financial Geographies

A Focus on the Semi-Periphery of the Global Financial System

Edited by Silvia Grandi, Christian Sellar and Juvaria Jafri

By Еdward Elgard, London

Elgaronline Online Publishing Platform

ISBN: 9781789903843 eISBN: 9781789903850

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789903850 Pages: c 264

This edited collection explores the boundaries between political and financial geographies, focusing on the linkages between the changing strategies, policies and institutions of the state. It also investigates banks and other financial institutions affected by both state policies and a globalizing financial system, and the financial resources available to firms as well as households. In so doing, the book highlights how an empirical focus on the semi-periphery of the financial system may generate new perspectives on the entanglement between (geo) politics and finance.

Chapter 8: Bulgaria's banking system: outside and inside the financial geography of Europe

Elena Stavrova

The focus of this chapter is the historical development of the banking system of the Republic of Bulgaria following political transformation in 1989. As the country transitioned from a command economy to a market-based economy, it experienced bouts of stability and crises which included bank panics and skyrocketing inflation. Much of this is directly linked to stabilization policies that entailed the privatization and foreign ownership of banks, and resulted in the deepening of financial intermediation. Nevertheless, the share of bank assets in gross domestic product remains relatively modest by international, and even Central and Eastern Europe, standards. This chapter notes several crucial points of inflection and considers the potential for change using quantitative and qualitative tools of analyses.