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BULGARIA DELAYS EURO ADOPTION BY TWO YEARS AT LEAST (13/07/2012) Topics: Bulgaria's finance minister, who was initially targeting rapid accession to the euro zone, has confirmed the country is in no hurry to adopt the single currency. "We will not make any move toward the switchover in the next two years," Simeon Djankov told reporters in Vienna on Thursday. The statement is in line with the opinion of local analysts, who have tried to tone down the cabinet's enthusiasm for adopting rapidly the common European currency, saying it makes more sense for the... BULGARIA'S FDI UP FOR THE PERIOD JAN-MAY 2012 (16/07/2012) Topics: Bulgaria has registered an increase in its foreign direct investment in January-May 2012 year-on-year, according to the latest data of the Bulgarian National Bank released on Monday. According to the Bulgarian National Bank's preliminary data, the foreign direct investment in Bulgaria for January - May 2012 increased by EUR 473.8 M (1.2% of GDP), compared to an increase of EUR 72.2 million (0.2% of GDP) for January – May 2011. Bulgaria's attracted Equity Capital (acquisition/disposal of... BULGARIA'S CURRENCY BOARD IS SUPER STABLE (12/01/2013) Topics: Bulgaria's Currency Board Is Super Stable (Sofia, Jan 12) - "The currency board functioning in Bulgaria is super-stable," the monthly analysis of Raiffeissen Bank Bulgaria reads. The experts have calculated that at the end of November 2012 the currency board's reserves amount to 15.1 billion euro, which is an increase by 2.2 million euro from a month ago. The board's reserves have increased by 1.9 billion euro (14.4%) year-on-year, which is a surplus of about 89% to the minimum... WALL STREET LEGEND JIM ROGERS MULLS INVESTING IN BULGARIA (14/04/2015) Topics: Wall Street legend and highly successful international investor, author and commodities expert, Jim Rogers has said he is considering investing in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is among the few countries, in which he is considering investing right now, since they have made the most improvement since his latest trip around the world, the billionaire, currently based in Singapore, said in an interview for Gold Radio Cafй. He joined the broadcast for a brief discussion on his new book "Street Smarts:... ITALIAN COMPANIES TO JOIN PRIVATIZATION PROJECTS IN BULGARIA – ECONOMY MINISTER (15/04/2015) Topics: Italian companies may be attracted in privatization projects, including for tourist sites, as well as concessions agreements and modernization schemes for airports, and construction and reconstruction of road and railway infrastructure in Bulgaria, according to Minister Bozhidar Lukarski. Speaking Tuesday at the opening of an economic forum titled “Bulgaria and Italy: Together for Achieving Growth”, Lukarski pointed out that the trade and economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Italy... WE HOPE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR NON-HAZARDOUS HOUSEHOLD WASTE TREATMENT BE COMPLETED IN 2016: BULGARIA MINISTER (15/04/2015) Topics: “The opportunities OP Environment provides in the previous and the new programme periods establish prerequisites for a huge volume of work on designing and construction of ecological infrastructure as well as possibilities for the state to tackle challenges,“ said Ivelina Vasileva, Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, speaking at an annual conference themed “Strategic infrastructure and investments – Bulgaria and the Western Balkans“, FOCUS News Agency reported. “In the...

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BULGARIA OPENS 31 KM OF MARITSA HIGHWAY Topics: Construction Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, officially opened Saturday a 31-km section of the Maritsa Highway between the towns of Harmanly and Lyubimets. The new road junction near Novo Selo, providing direct connection with the highway to Greece, also opened Saturday. The cost of construction works is estimated at BNG 36 M and it is financed by the State budget. The contractors are "Patni Stroeshi" (Road Construction), Plovdiv and "Moststroy" (Bridge Construction), part of the "Holding... BULGARIA MULLS CONCESSION FOR CONTAINER TERMINALS IN VARNA, BURGAS PORTS Topics: The new container terminals at the country's two key Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas will be granted on concession, officials have announced. "We plan to hold contests to grant the two terminals on concession once construction works are launched. In this way the state can avoid paying back the loan from the Japanese banks, which the previous government negotiated," Deputy Transport Minister Kamen Kichev told journalists on Saturday. The current center-right government and the... BULGARIA GDP FORECAST TO GROW 0.3% IN 2010, 3.8% IN 2011 Topics: Bulgaria's economy will grow 0,3% after a 5,1% contraction in 2009 as investments dwindled and consumption shrank, a local think-tank estimated. The country will manage to achieve a growth of 3.8% in 2011 thanks to a rise in exports, according to the Agency for Economic Analyses and Forecasts. Bulgaria aims to have a budget deficit of 2.5% of gross domestic product and a growth of 3.6% in 2011, according to the budget draft. The country is planning to sell bonds amounting to EUR 1 B on... BULGARIAN INTERIOR RECEIVES BGN 50 M BOOST IN BUDGET 2011 Topics: The funds allotted to the Interior Ministry in budget 2011 are 5% more compared to 2010, Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, announced Saturday. The BGN 50 M will be used for salaries and improving work conditions. Tsvetanov reminded the Ministry owes about BGN 30 M as compensations to its employees, and needs really BGN 1 B more in order to function under normal conditions, but promised to make everything possible to fit within the budget frame. The Minister opened... BULGARIA BIDS SUCCESSFULLY TO SELL KALASHNIKOVS TO INDIA Topics: Bulgaria has won a bid to sell large quantities of the "Arsenal" automatic gun to India, Deputy Defense Minister, Valentin Radev, informs. Radev spoke Friday at the Zmeevo training grounds during the official ceremony dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the military facility. The automatic gun is the Bulgarian modification of the Russian Kalashnikov, deemed better in comparison by many weapons experts. It is manufactured by the "Arsenal' company in the town of... AUSTERITY MEASURES SEND ROMANIAN COMPANIES TO BULGARIAAUSTERITY MEASURES SEND ROMANIAN COMPANIES TO BULGARIA Topics: Thousands of Romanian companies are moving their business to neighboring Bulgaria, the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, informs Saturday. The reasons cited are the spending cuts and austerity measures imposed in Romania, lower taxes and better conditions for the business in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria revenue and profit taxes are 10% compared to 16% in Romania. The Value Added Tax (VAT) is also lower. Bucharest recently had to up VAT as a condition to obtain a EUR 2 B loan from the EU and the... BULGARIAN CUSTOMS BOAST OUTSTANDING RESULTS IN SEPT Topics: Bulgaria's Customs Agency said it raised 101.2% of the revenues that it planed to collect in September 2010. The Agency brought a total of BGN 619 M to the state budget, which is BGN 52 M, or 9%, more than in September 2009. The income from VAT on imports was BGN 236 M, 23% up (BGN 45 M) year-on-year; from customs duties – BGN 15 M, 21% increase compared with September 2009; from excise taxes – BGN 368 M, an increase of 1%. In September 2010, the Customs registered the largest... BULGARIA FINMIN: 2.5% DEFICIT IS BUDGET 2011 BIGGEST SUCCESS Topics: Bulgaria will manage to bring its budget deficit below the European Union limit of 3% of economic production without a hike in taxes and social securities, which is the biggest success of budget 2011, according to the finance minister. "Bulgaria is pulling out of the crisis in macroeconomic terms and our expectations are that the revenues in the budget will stabilize," Simeon Djankov told reporters as he handed on Friday the budget draft for next year to parliamentary speaker Tsetska... BULGARIA BUDGET DRAFT 2011 ENTERS PARLIAMENT Topics: Bulgaria's Finance Minister Simeon Djankov will hand on Friday the budget draft for next year to parliamentary speaker Tsetska Tsacheva. Bulgaria is planning to sell bonds amounting to EUR 1 B on the international market in 2011 to shore up its finances, according to a finance ministry draft paper. Bulgaria aims to have a budget deficit of 2.5% of gross domestic product and a growth of 3.6% in 2011, according to the budget draft. In budget 2011, financing is going up the most in the... BULGARIA, SLOVAKIA INK ECONOMIC AGREEMENT Topics: Bulgaria and Slovakia signed an economic cooperation agreement in Sofia Friday. The document deals with the bilateral ties in trade, investments, energy, IT, telecommunications, small and medium-sized enterprises, consumer protection, agriculture, and food industry. The economic cooperation agreement concluded the first ever session of the Bulgarian-Slovak Consultative Commission for Economic Cooperation, which lasted two days. The document was signed by the Bulgarian Deputy Economy... BULGARIA APPROVES LIDL TAKEOVER OF PLUS DISCOUNT STORES Topics: Bulgaria's Competition Protection Commission has allowed German supermarket chain Lidl to acquire the Bulgarian stores of another German discount chain, Plus. Thus, the watchdog has given green light to Lidl Bulgaria GmbH's acquisition of Plus Bulgaria Trade KD, Tengelmann Real Estate International Bulgaria KD, Bulgaria Trade EOOD, and Real Estate International EOOD. The Commission has decreed the immediate execution of its decision. In June 2010, the European Commission referred the... SOFIA AIRPORT LAUNCHES 2 NEW ROUTES Topics: Sofia Airport has announced it will launch two new routes on Friday. One of the routes will be conducted by the Russian Ural Airlines, which will start executing weekly flights from the Bulgarian capital to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. The second route will connect Sofia to the second airport in Istanbul, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. The route will be conducted by the Turkish low cost Pegasus Airlines. The new airplanes Airbus 320 of Ural Airlines will... BULGARIA, TURKEY TO JOIN FORCES FOR EU FUNDING OF GAS GRIDS Topics: Bulgarian Energy Minister Traicho Traikov has met with his Turkish counterpart, Taner Yildiz, during the second edition of the two-day "Black Sea Energy and Economy Forum" in Istanbul. The Black Sea forum is organized by the US Atlantic Council. It is an initiative to bring together business leaders and policy-makers to discuss strategies regarding Eurasia, Black Sea, the Caspian and Central Asia. "My Turkish counterpart and I discussed the main topics of our energy cooperation. One of... MELROSE LANDS YET ANOTHER CONCESSION CONTRACT IN BULGARIA Topics: Edinburgh- based oil and gas explorer Melrose Resources has landed a seven-year concession contract to extract natural gas from the Kaliakra field in Bulgaria, the government announced. The new field spreads over 19 sq km and the company is required to extract 255 million m3 of gas between 2011 and 2015. Revenues over the seven-year period are expected to exceed USD 73 M. Bulgaria's government granted in August a ten-year concession for the extraction of natural gas to the UK company... ROMANIA WANTS TO EXPORT ELECTRICITY TO BULGARIA Topics: Romania could export more electricity to Bulgaria, according to Adrian Baiscusi, general manager of Romanian power grid operator Transelectrica (TEL). Baicusi has stated, as cited by Act Media, that as a result of Turkey joining the European electricity network (UCTE) in September, Romania should have opportunities to export energy to the south. "For the period to come, the exchange with the neighbors will be intensified, as Turkey got into the syncronisation with UCTE and will import... BULGARIA GDP GROWS 0.5% IN Q2, SPELLS END OF RECESSION Topics: Bulgaria's seasonally adjusted gross domestic product marked an increase of 0.5% in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year thanks to a rise in exports, pulling the country out of recession, the prime minister announced on Thursday. Boyko Borisov spoke at the 96th Conference of the heads of statistical offices of the European Union Member States, which the Bulgarian capital hosts. The official data he cited is based on the revised methods for GDP under the EU... BULGARIAN PM ASKS RUSSIANS TO BUILD BELENE NPP FOR EUR 7 B Topics: Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov hinted he has asked Russian company Atomstroyexport to build the Belene Nuclear Power Plant for not more than EUR 7 B. Borisov has confirmed a recent statement of Sergey Kirienko, the CEO of the Russian state company Rosatom, which is the parent company of Atomstroyexport, that the construction of Bulgaria's second NPP at Belene should be resumed soon thanks to an agreement with the Bulgarian government. The statements by Borisov and Kirienko have... BULGARIA, MOROCCO INK MARITIME TRADE AGREEMENT Topics: Representatives of Bulgaria and Morocco have signed a bilateral sea trade agreement that has been hailed an important step by the government in Sofia. The deal was signed in Rabat by Bulgaria's Deputy Transport Minister Kamen Kichev and Ahmed Reda Chami, Morocco's Minister of Industry, Commerce and New Technologies. The agreement was approved within the 9th session of the Bulgarian-Moroccan Joint Economic Commission. It allows maritime traders and ship companies from Bulgaria and... ITALIAN COMPANIES TO INVEST UP TO EUR 3 B IN BULGARIA BY 2020 Topics: Foreign direct investments by Italian companies in Bulgaria will amount to EUR 1-3 B in the next ten years, according to estimates of Confindustria Bulgaria, the Italian business association in Bulgaria. This figure was revealed Wednesday by Massimo Bartocci, the head of Confindustria Bulgaria, at a special news conference, which announced that the General Assembly of Confindustria Balcani, the union of Italian business associations in the Balkan countries, will take place in Sofia on... BULGARIA TO INTRODUCE FLAT 9% VAT IN TOURISM APRIL 2011 Topics: Tourism Bulgaria's government will introduce a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector, not 14% as initially planned, as of the beginning of April next year, a deputy economy minister has announced. The move comes in response to the demand of the European Union that Bulgaria should harmonize tourism VAT, which currently stands at 7% for organized groups and 20% for individual tourism. "The new tax had to be introduced at the beginning of 2011, but it is not a good thing to mess up the...