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Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Nicaragua: Looking for a futureThere are countries and countries. In some of them we feel like in the future, in some we feel like we see a history movie. But can the history repeat itself? Can one country with its real achievements be an example of what should happen in one of its neighbors? Nicaragua could probably be the best example of this history repetition, despite the fact that this country ended a bloody civil war not so long ago. There is a sharp contrast between what we can find on this society reading the media headlines, on the one hand, and meeting people who pretend to have been relocated there in the last years, on the other. For the international media Nicaragua is a country of constant natural disasters - earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, hurricanes and droughts. No word is sufficiently vibrant to describe the sufferings of the population. The bad economic international environment further worsens the life of the Nicaraguans, 50% of which live below the poverty line. The dropping coffee prices have forced thousands of farmers to migrate to the cities. The official statistics show that this country is one of the poorest of the hemisphere, that it has a huge external debt, and is dependable on foreign aid, governmental and private. Recently the IMF has threatened to cut its assistance to the country because the state budget doesn't meet the macro economic criteria. Even the trade liberalization with the United States, expected to happen in the coming years could only stabilize the shaky economic situation in the country, dependant heavily on its export of agricultural products. On the negative side of the balance we can put also some minor territorial disputes between this country and its neighbors as well as the anti-American sentiments among at least one part of the population. This explains why the Americans are still rare in Nicaragua compared to the nationals of some other developed countries. But there is, or at least some pretend to have found, another Nicaragua, a very poor country indeed, which offers many opportunities for those who make plans to retire in the next 5-10-15 years. The prices of identical properties in the country are 4-5 times lower than in Costa Rica and Panama. The workforce is very cheap ($100 per month), which benefits the investors who plan to build on their own the house of their dreams. In addition to the ocean coasts, Nicaragua has magnificent lakes with internal islands. The 1/4-acre lots there, and on the ocean coasts too, can still be found for $20,000-25,000. On the political front the country is oriented on the United States for its foreign policy, which has been proven during the current Iraq crisis. In general, for Nicaragua there are many scenarios how the life there will go on. The brightest one is that it will become the next discovered paradise in terms of foreign investments, and that the prices within 10-20 years will reach those in Costa Rica and Panama. Under the second scenario, which is less likely to occur, the country will again experience political turmoil. It could be that Nicaragua fails to attract sufficient number of baby-boomers, and continues to rely on the international assistance. In this case the prices will remain constantly below those in Costa Rica. It's also possible that Nicaragua in the future falls behind some new rising "stars" of the region like Cuba. So investing in Nicaragua is a risky business, but for some it could be worth playing the game. Country profile:
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Nicaragua.
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