Bulgaria is the only country from Central and Eastern European that made it in the top ten of A.T. Kearney's annual ranking of the most attractive locations for "offshoring" of service activities such as IT, business processes and call centres.

The country managed to climb six positions up from N 15 in the previous edition of the rankings to N 9 in 2006.

India is again on the first place, followed by China, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Chile, Philippines and Mexico.

Romania, which joined the EU together with Bulgaria on January 1, 2007, has dropped out from N24 to N33 in 2006 due to higher labour costs.

Slovakia and the Baltic States move ahead, while the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland slip in the rankings.

The A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index analyzes the top 50 services locations worldwide against 41 measurements in three major categories: cost, people skills and availability, and business environment.

The wage cost advantage of offshore locations for office services is set to last for another 20 years, says the latest annual survey by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Even though wages in offshore locations for services, such as IT, business processes and call centers, have started to rise, they will remain cheaper for the foreseeable future under the most aggressive projections of wage inflation and currency appreciation in developing countries.

As projected in previous years, newer contenders in Central and Eastern Europe are increasingly outshining more established players, as Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Baltic States move ahead, while the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland slip in the rankings.