Bulgaria's government is certain to set up a state-owned mega-company to be in charge of large-scale infrastructure projects, a somewhat controversial brainchild of Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev.
The new infrastructure company will be called State Company "Strategic Infrastructure Projects". It is to be established as on Thursday, the Bulgarian Parliament adopted amendments to the Road Traffic Act, which include provisions for its setting up.
The mega-structure will be...
The Canadian EurOmax Resources company has discovered new gold zones near the southwestern Bulgarian town of Trun during its drill program.
Results include 87 meters at 2.14 grams per tonne gold (285 feet at 0.063 oz per ton gold) in diamond drill hole MTC1174, the first hole to test the region's Ruy target, a 600 x 400 meter gold-in-soil anomaly.
"Initial results from our 2011 Drill Program at Trun are very encouraging," Dr. Quinton Hennigh, technical advisor to the company, has...
Bulgaria's Cabinet has formally decided to award a large-scale concession for shale gas exploration to US energy giant Chevron.
The decision was formalized by the Borisov government on Wednesday after at the end of May 2011 Bulgarian Economy, Energy, and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov announced that US energy giant Chevron landed the shale gas exploration concession with a whopping offer of EUR 30 M, snatching it from British company BNK Petroleum, which remained second in the...
The Bulgarian government of the center-right party GERB plans to raise the retirement pensions only of widows, according to the latest announcement of Finance Minister Simeon Djakov.
According to Djankov, the state budget cannot afford to raise all pensions, as Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Labor Minister Totyu Mladenov had indicated earlier.
Instead, the government is mulling upping only the so called widows' allowances. Currently, retired widows receive 20% of the pension of the late...
Bulgaria plans to put out four or five important companies for privatization, announced Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov.
"Any moment is a good one for privatization, for the state is not a good husband and owner," said Djankov for the Bulgarian National TV.
He confirmed that legislative amendments are under way in Parliament to allow the privatization of "four or five companies" which are up to now in the list of firms prohibited from privatizing.
Djankov clarified the money from...
The consumer price index (CPI) in Bulgaria in May 2011, compared to April 2011, was 100%, meaning the monthly inflation was 0%.
The data was reported Tuesday by the National Statistical Institute (NSI).
The inflation rate since the beginning of the year (May 2011 compared to December 2010) was 2.6% and the annual inflation in May 2011 compared to May 2010 was 4.8%.
The annual average inflation, measured by CPI, in the last 12 months (June 2010 - May 2011) compared to the previous 12...
More than 10 000 car enthusiasts visited Bulgaria's 2011 Sofia Motor Show on Saturday, the first day of the event.
An unusually high amount of deals were struck on the first day of the spectacular exhibition, the Dnevnik daily said Monday, citing car dealers who claimed this was a clear sign of the Bulgarian car market's recovery.
The attractive discounts announced by many of the dealers have been pointed out as one of the main reasons for the vast interest.
A lot of deals have been...
Enoteca Uno in the Bulgarian capital Sofia has been selected as one of the ten best restaurants in Central and Eastern Europe according to the list announced during the Dining Guide Food Show in Budapest.
Besides the Bulgarian restaurant, La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise in Prague, Czech Republic, Valsabbion in Pula, on the Croatian Adriatic coast, La Rotisserie in Warsaw, Poland, Chateau Visz in Hugarian Berencse puszta, Heritage – a French restaurant in Bucharest, Restaurant Zaplet in...
The Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and Westinghouse have signed a cooperation memorandum under which the US energy giant commits to helping extend the life of Units 5 and 6 of Bulgaria's Kozloduy NPP.
The document between BEH and Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (entitled "Memorandum of Understanding for the Studying of Cooperation Opportunities in Nuclear Energy") was signed Monday at the Council of Ministers in the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Economy Minister...
More than 3 100 km of Bulgarian roads, most of which have not been touched in 30-40 years, will be repaired under 76 projects of the Road Agency, Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev announced.
Plevneliev, who is the Bulgarian official with the highest public support, spoke Monday on the rehabilitation of the first-, second-, and third-class roads in Bulgaria.
In his words, 35% of the roads in Bulgaria are in a bad condition, 25% - in an "average condition", and 40% are in a...
Prices of fruit and vegetables are falling with their wholesale price index going down to 1.035 points.
The data was released by the State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Market Places.
Prices of greenhouse tomatoes are down 23%, of cucumbers – 31%, of cabbage – 24%, of spring potatoes – 25%. Prices of lettuce are up by 2%.
In the last week, strawberries' prices were 15% lower as were those of cherries.
Among basic food stables – prices of sugar remained the same; those of...
Voleex C10 sedan, Hover H5 SUV and Steed pickup are the three different vehicle models, which Chinese car maker Great Wall Motor Co and Bulgarian company Litex Motors will produce in the town of Lovech, Northern Bulgaria, at very competitive prices.
The companies are to roll off their first vehicles by the end of the year amid expectations for a furore not least because of their low prices.
Even though the price list has not been officially announced, unconfirmed reports say Voleex C10, a...
The first natural gas will flow in the South Stream pipeline no later than end of 2015, stated Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Yuriy Isakov.
In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Isakov expressed optimism on all joint energy projects Bulgaria and Russia are discussing.
"At present all countries participating in South Stream, including Bulgaria, have agreed to the terms and we will have the project companies created in all of them by the end of 2011," said the Russian...
Three top-notch investors have purchased public procurement documents for the bid to privatize Bulgaria's cigarette maker Bulgartabac.
The news was reported by the Bulgarian daily Trud (Labor), cited by Dnes.bg.
The deadline to purchase the documents was Thursday, 5:30 pm.
The three are said to be the second largest in the world cigarette maker British-American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Korean Tobacco Group.
The Japanese and Korean businesses are planning to launch...
Bulgaria's Cabinet has been right to seek to turn down a large-scale Japanese low-interest loan for the expansion of the largest Bulgarian sea port Varna, according to the port CEO Danail Papazov.
"The loan for Port Varna from the Japan International Cooperation Agency was rejected because it is hard to implement," Papazov said speaking on private channel TV7.
At the end of February 2011, Bulgaria's Cabinet decided to start talks with Japan to annual a low-interest loan previously deemed...
Ten companies, including four top-notch investors, have purchased public procurement documents for acquiring a majority stake in Bulgaria's cigarette maker Bulgartabac, the Privatisation Agency said on Friday.
The four major companies are British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris Bulgaria and South Korea's KT&G Corporation.
The other six candidates are Bulgarian law firms Kambourov & Partners and Dzhingov, Guginski, Kiuchukov and Velichkov; Bulgarian-based...
In the period January-March 2011, Bulgaria's exports to the EU increased by 56.4% compared to the same period a year earlier, totaling BGN 5.7 B, the National Statistical Institute reported (NSI).
The main trade partners of Bulgaria were Germany, Italy, Romania, Greece and Belgium, which accounted for 67.3% of the country's exports to EU member states.
The most significant increase was registered in exports for Portugal, Belgium and Denmark.
Declines were reported in export rates to...
Bulgaria and Turkey have agreed to speed up the construction of a gas grid interconnection between the two countries, Bulgarian Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said Thursday after a meeting with Turkish counterpart Taner Yildiz.
The two ministers met in Kayseri, Turkey, where they took part in the signing of the Project Support Agreements (PSAs) between NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH and the responsible ministries of the five transit countries.
"The PSAs give better guarantees...
If a contract on the construction of Belene, Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant, is not signed by July 1, the project will become useless, a Russian official has said.
Construction has to be launched by March 2012, or otherwise Belene will be considered unprofitable for Russia, said Genadiy Tepkyan, deputy chair of Atomstroyexport, the Rosatom subsidiary that is supposed to build the plant, according to Komersant.
In November, Russia delivered a similar ultimatum, declaring Bulgaria...
Bulgaria has been ranked among the most attractive countries in the world for investments in renewable energy projects, a report from the US auditing and consulting company Ernst & Young showed.
The top three in the ranking are China, the US, and India while Bulgaria is among the top 35, according to the attractiveness indices. This is the first time Bulgaria is included in the report along with Morocco, Taiwan, and Chile.
The report points out the last several months were not only very...
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