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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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BULGARIAN CITY WANTS DIRECT LINK TO SOFIA METRO Topics: Construction The administration of the western Bulgarian city of Pernik has renewed its initiative for a connection to subway of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. On Monday, the Deputy District Governor of Pernik, Radoslav Yordanov, announced that the local authorities have renewed their talks with the central government for the building of a new train station that will provide a connection between the Pernik-Sofia rail line and the Sofia subway. Monday's talks were held with Deputy Transport Minister... BULGARIA TO GET BGN 41 M DIVIDEND FROM POWER UTILITY CEZ Topics: The Bulgarian government is going to receive a dividend of BGN 41 M from the Czech-owned power utility CEZ Bulgaria. This has become clear Monday after a meeting of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov with Jan Vavera, regional manager of CEZ for Bulgaria, which was also attended by Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, and Deputy Environment Minister Evdokiya Maneva as well as the head of Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), Angel... GREECE'S BLUEHOUSE TO INK EUR 27 M DEAL IN BULGARIA Topics: Real Estate Greek investment fund Bluehouse Capital is to acquire four properties of Sofia-based ERG Capital 1 and ERG Capital 2 REITs in a EUR 27 M deal, according to media reports. Bluehouse Capital has already signed preliminary contracts with the two companies, majority-owned by the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund (BAEF), Dnevnik daily reported, citing insiders to the negotiations. The Bulgarian subsidiary of real estate consultants Colliers International has been picked as consultant on the... BMI: RENTS IN BULGARIA TRACK SIDEWAYS Topics: Real Estate Rental levels in Bulgaria have tracked sideways in mid-2010 as the impact of softness in demand had been offset by the effect of restricted new supply, according to global research outfit Business Monitor International (BMI). Surprisingly, BMI country sources expect modest rises in rents in Sofia and Varna and forecast that rental yields will continue to track sideways over the next year or so, as movements in rents are matched by changes in capital values. At the beginning of 2010 rents... THE THREE LARGEST BULGARIAN BANKS TO SELL 'USED-UP' ASSETS WORTH BGN 32.4 MLN Topics: The three biggest Bulgarian banks have put up for public sale seized real estates worth BGN 32,449 mln, shows an inspection of Klassa on the websites of the leading financial institutions. DSK Bank is the winner in assets declared for sale. The financial institution has offered to the market immovables worth BGN 23.16 mln. UniCredit Bulbank ranked second in assets worth BGN 5.678 mln put up for tender, followed by the UBB with seized real estates worth BGN 3.606 mln. According to the... A TOTAL OF BGN 3 MLN WILL BE ALLOCATED FOR FURTHERING BUSINESS CONTACTS OF SMES Topics: The Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EAPSMEs) will allocate more than BGN 3 mln to organize business missions by 2012. The aim is to help firms with export potential to establish contacts abroad. An analysis is yet to be made which countries the business delegations will visit. Germany, Austria, Russia and India are currently being discussed. Groups of 20 Bulgarian businessmen (one from every company) will visit not only the capitals, but also other regions... BULGARIA'S SOPOT WITH 'ULTRA MODERN' WATER PURIFICATION STATION Topics: Waste Management Bulgaria's Boyko Borisov opened a much-advertised station for purification of waste waters near the central town of Sopot. BGN 18 M were invested in the new facility, with BGN 4 M of these coming from the state budget, and the rest from EU Operational Program "Environment". Borisov declared that the purified water had better drinking qualities than the tap water in the entire region. The purification station will serve 12 000 people in Sopot. According to the Veselin Lichev, Mayor of... ITALY'S ENEL TO SELL BULGARIAN POWER PLANT IN FALL 2010 Topics: CEO of Enel SpA, Fulvio Conti, has said the Italian company will sell its stake in Bulgaria's Maritsa East 3 power plant in the fall of 2010. Conti has made it clear, as cited by Bloomberg, that Enel plans to sell gas distribution assets in Spain by September, and its Bulgarian coal-fired power plant shortly after that. Bloomberg reminds that Enel is selling assets to help reduce debt by EUR 45 B in 2010. The Rome-based company said in May it planned to sell EUR 7 B of assets including a... BULGARIA'S UNEMPLOYMENT DOWN TO 9.14% IN AUGUST Topics: In August 2010, Bulgaria had an unemployment rate of 9.14%, announced Labor Minister Totyu Mladenov. The Minister pointed out on Sunday that after the Bulgarian unemployment peaked in February 2010 at 10.2%, it has been decreasing slowly but steadily in the last 6 months, with 40 000 Bulgarians starting new jobs in that period. In July Bulgaria's unemployment rate was 9.23%. Mladenov said 9 000 people will be appointed as personal assistants to people with disabilities as of October... GREECE’S BLUEHOUSE SNAPS UP ERG CAPITAL PORTFOLIOS Topics: Real Estate Bluehouse Capital, the Greek private equity real estate investment management firm with a focus in the property markets of South East Europe, is the investor that will pay EUR 27 million to acquire the four properties of Bulgarian real estate investment trusts (REITs) ERG Capital 1 and 2, sources close to the negotiations told Dnevnik. The Greek company has already signed preliminary accords with the REITs, owned by Bulgarian American Investment Fund (BAIF). On Wednesday, BAIF officially... BULGARIA’S MUTUAL FUNDS ASSETS CLEAR BGN 600M MARK Topics: For the first time since end-2009, Bulgarian mutual funds experienced pick-up in the volume of managed assets, posting a 4% rise to BGN 618 million in August. The figure represents a BGN 26 million increase on the July level, shows data by the Bulgarian Association of Asset Management Companies (BAAMC) and market players. Domestic schemes attracted approximately BGN 8 million in fresh assets in the eight month of the year, with foreign schemes, led by Pioneer, scooping up around BGN 18... BULGARIAN PM VOWS TO BUILD 7 HIGHWAYS IN 2 TERMS Topics: Construction Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov formally launched the construction of the last section of the Trakiya Highway, the first highway to run from Sofia to the Black Sea coast. "There are 7 highway projects in Bulgaria. We will built three highways by the end of our first term (2013 – editor's note), and four highways in our next term," declared Borisov near Yambol at the groundbreaking ceremony of Lot 4, Trakiya's last section linking the city of Yambol and the town of Karnobat. The... ERG CAPITAL FUNDS STIR UP ACTION ON BULGARIAN BOURSE Topics: The first day of September spurred drowsy investors on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) into action with a bunch of exciting corporate news. ERG Capital 1 and ERG Capital 2, the real estate investment trusts (REITs) of Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB), gained 36.92% to BGN 3.56, and 47.17% to BGN 3.90, respectively. But volumes were a slim 500 and 1,000, respectively. BACB itself advanced by 2.95% to BGN 11.20 apiece on expectations of a possible sell-off after current majority... BULGARIA GIVES GO-AHEAD TO TRAKIYA HIGHWAY LAST SECTION Topics: Construction Bulgaria's prime minister will launch the construction works of the last section of Trakiya highway, linking the city of Yambol and the town of Karnobat, with a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday. The Bulgarian Road Infrastructure picked "Holding Roads" as winner in the tender for building of the 49km section of Trakiya Highway, also known as Lot 4. The offer of the Bulgarian company is BGN 174,705,600 M, VAT excluded. Bulgaria's tie-in "Unified Highway Trace" won the tender for the... BRUSSELS UPBEAT ECONOMIC FORECAST CHEERS BULGARIA Topics: The European Commission has expressed optimism about the potential of Bulgaria's economy to rebound as officials figures confirmed that the eurozone economy grew by 1% between April and June. "Bulgaria does not threaten the stability of the European economy and the European Commission is upbeat about its recovery," Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman of the European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, told the Bulgarian National Radio on Thursday. The statement followed the... BULGARIA: NO NEED FOR IMF BAILOUT TALKS BY 2012 Topics: Bulgaria's finance minister has assured that the country will have no need to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout loan for its ailing economy in the next two years. "There will be no need for a loan not only this year, but the next two years as well," Minister Simeon Djankov said on Thursday. "In terms of its economic policy the Bulgarian government is doing just as fine as the bigger part of the EU member states," he said, adding that he expects to see a return... OVER BGN 2M EU PROJECTS TO GET FIRST-CLASS INVESTOR STATUS Topics: EU-financed projects worth more than BGN 2 million should be considered first-class investments, a move that would double the speed of administrative servicing, according to Tomislav Donchev, Bulgaria’s minister in charge of EU funds absorption. Alongside fast-track administrative support, Bulgaria’s first-class investors also get the right to purchase state property with no tender of competition as well as receive government assistance in infrastructure development adjoining their... PART OF THE LOCAL TAXES COULD BE INVESTED IN THE RESORTS Topics: Tourism Part of the deductions of the business sector for local taxes should be granted for investments in the Bulgarian resorts - this is one of the proposals for amendments to the legislation drawn by the Union of Owners of Sunny Beach (UOSB) and the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association. According to Elena Ivanova, UOSB Chairwoman, in the first place, certain criteria should be prepared and they should determine which resorts are national resorts. Currently, they are defined as settlements of... UK JKX SPUDS BULGARIAN WELLS Topics: Britain's JKX Oil & Gas, the operator of the B1-Golitza license in Bulgaria, began on Thursday a two-well drill program in the country to test targets with an estimated resource of up to 60 billion cubic feet (Bcf). The Staro Oryahovo South R-1 well will be drilled to test a submarine fan target of Eocene age in the Kamchia Basin, south west of Varna, Bulgaria. Drilling is planned to complete by the end of September when the rig will move to the Shkorpilovtci South West R2 location, 5km... LATEST COIN COMMEMORATING 125 YEARS OF BULGARIAN UNIFICATION REVEALED Topics: The mintage of the coin is 5000 pieces. The coin surprised collectors with it sporting a gold plated design, while previous announcements did not hint that such will be available. The interesting fact here is this will be the lowest ever mintage for a Bulgarian gold plated coin. The coin has an interesting, original and different design. We expect a serious interest in it by Bulgarian commemorative coin collectors. The obverse of the coin features the logo of the Bulgarian National Bank...