IME report: Discrimination against LGBTQI+s costs Bulgaria billions of dollars a year

Bulgaria loses between $2.4 and 4.9 billion of additional GDP per year due to discrimination against LGBTQI+s, according to a report by the Institute for Market Economics (IME) presented at a business forum organised by the GLAS Foundation on the occasion of Sofia Pride, a June 13 media statement said.

Bulgaria’s GDP could be 2.5 to five per cent higher with full acceptance and equality of LGBTQI+s, according to the report.

Calculations by the IME show that in real terms for 2023, this would mean that instead of 15 900 per capita, which is the IMF’s estimate of the country’s GDP for 2023, it would be between 16.2 and 16.6 thousand US dollars.

The data are part of a report by the Institute for Market Economy assessing the negative impact of homophobia on the economic development of Bulgaria.