Experts concerned over Greek business moving to Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta

AFP — Facing higher and higher taxes and social payment, lots of Greek companies have moved to neighbouring countries, such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Malta, in the past years, which makes experts concerned, AFP reports.
“Since 2012, a total of 11,500 Greek companies have opened bank accounts or have registered in the Bulgarian Industrial Association and 30% of the companies did that in 2015,” Christos Kazantzis, chair of the Greek-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, said.
These are mainly companies dealing with road carriage but also such for imports and exports that were affected by capital controls introduced in Greece at the end of last June to avoid money leaving the country because of the temporary crisis in the relations between Athens and the eurozone.
Economist Dimitris Bibas noted “tax rates, salaries, and expenditures on the establishment of a company in the three countries [in question] are lower than in Greece”.
With a tax rate of about 30% on the average, Greece is in a much less favourable position than Bulgaria and Cyprus, where the tax on companies is respectively 10% and 12.5%.