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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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E.ON, CEZ BULGARIA UNITS TO LAUNCH IPOS IN LATE SUMMER Topics: Bulgaria's government is expected to list its 33% minority stake in E.ON and CEZ power distributors at the end of summer or the beginning of the autumn in a bid to enliven the local stock exchange and boost revenues. This was announced by Ivan Takev, Chief Executive of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in an interview for Dow Jones Newswires. Takev spoke on the sidelines of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges conference in Istanbul. The local units of Germany's E.ON and Czech CEZ... BULGARIA EXPECTS 10% GROWTH OF FOREIGN TOURISTS SUMMER 2012 Topics: Tourism Bulgaria will see a 10% growth in the number of tourists visiting it this summer, according to Delyan Dobrev, Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism. Dobrev is convinced that the growth will exceed the 5-7% initially expected. Commenting on the amendments to the Bulgarian tourism legislation that would affect the classification system for hotels and restaurants, the Minister told bTV that hotel and restaurant owners can now apply online for changing their star ratings. It was recently... BULGARIA HOPES TO SELL 50.5% IN BOURSE BY END-2012 Topics: Bulgaria hopes to find an investor for its only stock exchange by the end of this year after failing to do so by the beginning of the summer as initially planned. "In terms of timeline, the plan is to sell by the end of the year. Everything looks on track," BSE Chief Executive Ivan Takev told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges conference in Istanbul. For sale is the government's stakes of just above 50% in the Bulgarian bourse and in... BULGARIA DROPS LICENSE REQUIREMENT FOR 10 MW POWER PLANTS Topics: Power plants with a total installed capacity of up to 10 MW will not need a license for electricity and heat production, according to amendments to Bulgaria's Energy Act passed at second reading by Parliament. The limit has been increased from the previous capacity of up to 5 MW of total installed capacity. Besides, the amendments also say that the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) regulates the methodology for determining access and transmission tariffs via gas... GREEK OTE TO SELL BULGARIAN UNIT GLOBUL Topics: Software and Information Technology Greek telecommunication group Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, known as OTE, is selling its unit in Bulgaria. The revenues from the sale of Globul, Bulgaria's second-biggest mobile operator, are to help OTE pay its obligations on bonds maturing in the next two years, according to the OTE's press office, as cited by Capital Daily. Globul's senior management and officials have already been informed about the decision taken several days ago by the Greek company's board of... BULGARIAN MPS ENDORSE PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON SKI DEVELOPMENT LAW Topics: Tourism MPs from the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee backed Thursday the veto imposed by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev on a set of controversial amendments to the Forestry Act. The Committee will propose a support of the veto to Parliament, meaning that the procedure for drafting the legal changes goes back to square one. Members of the Agriculture Committee agreed that the veto provided an opportunity to vote the amendments amid a public debate including representatives of... BULGARIA TO START BUILDING GAS LINK WITH ROMANIA AUGUST 2012 Topics: Construction Bulgaria will launch the construction of its cross-border gas link with Romania in August, the country's Economy and Energy Minister, Delyan Dobrev, has revealed. The gas interconnector, which will cross the river Danube at Ruse/Giurgiu, is being developed jointly by Bulgartransgaz and its Romanian counterpart Transgaz. Experts have argued that the 25-km gas interconnector will be the least significant in terms of energy diversification among Bulgaria's planned gas links, dnevnik.bg... POLISH CO SILESIA MOST LIKELY SAVIOR OF BULGARIA'S LEAD AND ZINC COMPLEX Topics: Polish consortium Silesia is the most serious bidder for the indebted Lead and Zinc Complex (LZC; OTZK) in Bulgaria's Kardzhali, Bulgarian Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev told reporters. "At present, Silesia is the company with the most serious intentions towards OTZK in Kardzhali," Dobrev said Thursday, amidst renewed streets protests of the factory's workers, who demand payment of their delayed salaries and a clear future for the company. The Economy Minister explained that Silesia wants... BULGARIA OPTIMISTIC ABOUT FINDING NATURAL GAS IN BLACK SEA Topics: Three energy giants have submitted bids for exploration and exploitation of natural gas in the so-called "Khan Asparuh" block in Bulgarian Black Sea waters. According to Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister, Delyan Dobrev, the three are the US Exxon Mobil, the French Total, and the Canadian Melrose. Dobrev spoke Thursday at the conference "Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas –the New Technology Frontier." The successful bidder will be announced by the end of July, he... BULGARIA WON'T DROP SOUTH STREAM PROJECT Topics: Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev has ruled out the possibility of Bulgaria exiting the South Stream gas pipeline project. "Currently, there is no danger of Bulgaria not participating in South Stream," Dobrev told reporters on Thursday. "We support the South Stream project. We believe it is profitable for Bulgaria, but we have to specify all the details," he added. The Economy and Energy Minister explained that the Bulgarian part of the project will be financed by... BULGARIAN GOVT TO INVEST BGN 5 M IN 2012 TOURISM ADVERTISING Topics: Tourism Bulgaria's Cabinet will allocate BGN 5 M (EUR 2.5 M) for international advertising of Bulgarian tourism in the rest of 2012, according to the government's Wednesday meeting's agenda. According to the government press service, the funding will be used to Bulgaria's participation in over 35 international tourism expos, working meetings, seminars, and journalistic trips. Up until 2009, Bulgaria's tourism sector was managed by the State Tourism Agency, whose annual budget was about BGN 5 M.... PRICES OF NATURAL GAS IN BULGARIA TO ADD 4.88% FROM JULY Topics: Angel Semerdzhiev, Chair of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), has assured that there will be no shock spikes in prices of electricity in 2013. In a Tuesday interview for the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), the DKEVR Chair explained that prices of renewable energy and of heating utilities' high-efficiency combined heat and power generation would drop. Semerdzhiev noted that the currently admissible increase in natural gas tariffs was 4.88%. He said that... ILYUMZHINOV BUYS MAJORITY STAKE IN BULGARIA'S PETROL HOLDING, ERSHOV OUT Topics: Swiss-based Credit Mediterranee owned by Kalmyk multi-millionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has acquired a 52.5% stake in Bulgarian fuel distributor Petrol Holding AD. The company of the former President of the Republic of Kalmykia and President of the World Chess Federation bought the 47.5% stake owned by Denis Ershov and the 5% stake owned by Alexander Melnik, according to a statement of Petrol Holding's press office. The deal was sealed on Friday.The statutory procedures for registering the... UNICREDIT BULBANK LAUNCHES PIONEER PRODUCT FOR EXPATS IN BULGARIA Topics: UniCredit Bulbank, part of the UniCredit Group, said it plans to launch a package of banking services tailor-made for the needs of foreigners living in Bulgaria. The product, named Expat package, is the first of this type in the country. The new package of services and products can be used by all foreigners with a minimum salary of 4000 euros, transferred to an account in UniCredit Bulbank. The package combines the most commonly used banking products and services. It provides... LABOR COSTS IN BULGARIA UP 6% Q1 2012 Y/Y Topics: In the first quarter of 2012, the total hourly labor cost in Bulgaria rose by 6.2% compared to the first quarter of 2011. These flash figures were released Monday by the Bulgarian National Statistics Institute, NSI. The total hourly labor cost grew by 4.2% in the industrial sector, by 9.5% in the services one, and by 0.4% in construction. The breakdown by economic activities shows that the highest annual growths in total labor costs were recorded in 'Other Service Activities' - 17.1%,... MOLSON COORS BUYS BULGARIA'S KAMENITZA, STARBEV BREWERIES Topics: Food and Beverage Denver-based Molson Coors said it has purchased StarBev and its nine breweries in central and eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, as it expands its operations further. The price of the deal is EUR 2.65 B (USD 3.54 B). Molson Coors, whose products include Coors Light and Molson Canadian, said Monday that the company will become one of its divisions and be renamed Molson Coors Central Europe. Mark Hunter, CEO of Molson Coors U.K. and Ireland, will serve as CEO of the new unit, whose... BULGARIA TO INTRODUCE 5-YEAR VALIDITY FOR HOTEL RATINGS Topics: Tourism Bulgaria is about to make changes to its hotel and restaurant classification system, limiting the validity of hotel and restaurant star rating to five years. Currently, the country's hotel and restaurant ratings are termless. The classification procedure will be made easy for hotel and restaurant owner, Deputy Economy Minister in charge of tourism Ivo Marinov has promised. Marinov has told the Focus news agency that obligatory standards will be introduced for Bulgaria's Spa... BULGARIA LOOKS UP TO ITALY TO DEVELOP EQUESTRIAN TOURISM Topics: Tourism Bulgaria is set to learn from Italy's good practices in order to develop its own equine tourism, according to Bulgarian Deputy Economy Minister in charge of tourism, Ivo Marinov. Marinov met Friday in Sofia with Luigi Triossi, Secretary General of the International Federation of Equestrian Tourism (FITE); Alberto Spineli, Preisdent of the Italian Federation of Equestrian Tourism (FITETREC-Ante); and Fausto Faggioli, VP of the Regional Federation of Equestrian Tourism of the Italian region... BULGARIA'S SHALE GAS HYDROFRACKING MORATORIUM PARTIALLY LIFTED Topics: Bulgaria's Parliament decided to partially lift the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in natural gas and oil exploration and extraction. The moratorium is only lifted as far as conventional gas extraction is concerned, Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev pointed out. The use of the hydraulic fracturing technology is still banned for shale gas activities. "The extraction of local gas is 40% cheaper. I hope that you support this text, since it would be a clear message that we want... BULGARIAN CAPITAL WITH NEW MODERN BELTWAY SECTION Topics: Construction A new repaired and modernized section of the beltway of Bulgaria's capital Sofia is opening for traffic Wednesday. The section is on the southern loop from the Mladost district to the exit for the suburb of Simeonovo and is over 3.5 km-long. The repair works are valued at BGN 45 M. The new route will significantly ease-up traffic in the area because it will take both local Sofia traffic and the one coming from the Trakiya and Hemus highways in the direction of southwestern...