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 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
(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 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 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...
“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...
The repaired Bulgarian section of Danube Bridge 1 between the city Ruse and Romania's Giurgiu was opened Saturday by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.
The bridge is the only one existing on the Danube to connect Bulgaria and Romania, for which the Bulgarian government has allocated BGN 1.7 M.
Borisov was accompanied at the ceremony by Regional Minister, Rosen Plevneliev, Transport Minister, Ivaylo Moskovski, and Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov.
"Our Danube capital Ruse needed these...
The first Bulgarian store of the Swedish furniture giant IKEA aims at attracting over 1.5 million visitors during the first year after its opening.
The information was announced by the Greek Fourlis company, which has the IKEA franchise rights for Bulgaria.
The first IKEA store is located on the capital Sofia's beltway and is scheduled to open on September 29th.
The free furniture catalogue is being distributed starting Friday to households in the city in 750 000 copies. The prices...
The Supervisory Council of Bulgaria's Privatization Agency has given the final go-ahead for the sale of state cigarette-maker Bulgartabac to BT Invest, a firm wholly owned by Russia's government bank VTB.
After five-hour debates on Friday, the Supervisory Council of the Privatization and Post-privatization Control Agency approved the sale of Bulgartabac to VTB for EUR 100.1 M with 6 votes in favor and one vote against.
The news was broken Friday night by the Council chair Yuliya Nenkova....
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft will freeze the construction of the troubled Burgas-Alexandroupolis project, which has been largely obstructed by Bulgaria's government in the past 2 years.
Transneft will not abandon the Burgas–Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project - despite its partner Bulgaria's failure to provide financing - but will freeze the construction this fall, Transneft Vice President Mikhail Barkov said on Friday night, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
"We are not giving up...
The subway line from the Mladost 3 district to the main thoroughfare of the Bulgarian capital Sofia – Tsarigradsko Shosse Boulevard will be open for use by May 2012.
The news was announced Thursday by Mayor, Yordanka Fandakova, who said that simultaneously with the launch of the line, the buffer parking with 1 300 spots will also open.
The line from Mladost 1 district through Mladost 3 district to Tsarigradsko Shose is going to be 2.6-km long and it is expected that it would greatly...
Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, in the company of three members of his cabinet, broke ground Thursday of the second stage of the road to Greece through the Makaza mountain pass.
The road segment is between Kardzhali and Podkova. It is 34-km-long of which 27 km are new construction and the rest are being rehabilitated. The road construction includes the building of 8 new bridges, one overpass, two underpasses, and 7 junctions.
The investment amount is estimated at BGN 32 M...
Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, has shown many times that he is clueless when it comes to economy and his experts have no clue either.
The statement was made Tuesday by Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, in the aftermath of Parvanov's televised words that Bulgarian retirees are paying the social price of the economic crisis.
"I will have to visit the hometown of Pernik of our Communist President (Parvanov is the former leader of the Bulgarian...
The State budget will not in any way need to be updated, Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, declared Wednesday.
In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, Djankov said there is enough money in the budget and this is not the right moment to make updates at the time when most of the finances of European countries are shacking.
The Minister's comments came on the heels of reports that during the regular meeting of the cabinet last week, Prime...
The average quarterly total income per household member during the second quarter of 2011 was BGN 940.
This is 3.8% more compared to the same quarter of 2010.
The data was released Wednesday by the Bulgarian National Statistics Institute, NSI.
The main part of this income (82.5%) came from wages, salaries and pensions with wages and salaries continuing to be the main source of household income.
During the second quarter of 2011 they were BGN 494 per capita or by 8.4% more compared...
The Governing Board of Bulgaria's Privatization Agency approved Wednesday the sale of the State-owned tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding to the Austria-registered BT Invest, owned by Russian state bank VTB.
On Monday, the buyer offered EUR 101.1 M for the Holding. The offer further binds the Austrian-registered company to buy 5 000 metric tons of Bulgarian tobacco a year in the next 5 years. The company has also slated BGN 7 M in its investment program for 2012 and 2013.
The contract...
Two brand new "high-speed" roads will link the Bulgarian Danube city of Ruse with the future Hemus Highway connecting Sofia and Varna through Northern Bulgaria, Ruse's District Governor Plamen Stoilov announced.
Stoilov gave a report Wednesday on his activities in his first two years in office.
Back in July 2011, Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency formally said several of the so called "high-speed roads" would be added to the list of highways under construction as priority...
Bulgaria's Cabinet has adopted the report for the consolidated state fiscal program for the first half of 2011, stressing the stabilization of the country's macroeconomic indicators.
"The stabilization and gradual recovery of the Bulgarian economy which started in the second half of 2010 are continuing in the first half of this year," the announcement of the Borisov Cabinet.
It contains latest data from the Finance Ministry showing that in the first quarter Bulgaria's economy grew by 3.4%...
Electrical power utilities operating in Bulgaria might need to go through a restructuring, according to Angel Semerdzhiev, the head of the Bulgarian state energy regulator.
Discussions for restructuring aim at a complete transparency of the three companies' costs for external services such as consulting, said Semerdzhiev.
End of 2010, the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, fined CEZ, E.ON and EVN with penalties totaling close to BGN 3 M for violations of outsourcing...
Bulgaria's government will launch September 1, 2011, the long-anticipated construction of a key section of the road from the Danube city of Ruse on the Romanian border to the Makaza Pass on the Greece border.
The section in question is the road between the southern Bulgarian city of Kardzhali in the Eastern Rhodope Mountain, and the village of Podkova, which is located just 15 km north of the Makaza Pass on the Bulgarian-Greek border, at an altitude of 331 m, in the Kirkovo...
One of the top Bulgarian Black Sea resorts, Albena, has seen an increase of 6% in the number of tourists during the 2011 summer season, year-on-year, a company representative said.
The revenue will also be up but its increase will be smaller than the increase in the tourist numbers because of the cheaper offers in June, Albena's deputy marketing head Yovka Strashilova told BTA.
In her words, the greatest increase in terms of foreign tourist numbers by source country came from Germany with...
Two of Greece's major banks – Alpha Bank and Eurobank EFG – have formally announced their planned merger, which will create the largest bank in Greece, and the third largest bank in Bulgaria.
"The Boards of Directors of Alpha Bank and Eurobank EFG announce that they have reached agreement on a combination of Alpha Bank and Eurobank EFG by way of a merger," the two banks said in a joint statement Monday, adding, "Consolidation of two highly complementary private sector banks with...
Bulgaria's Cabinet could complete the privatization of the "Freight Services" unit of state railways operator BDZ Holding within six months, according to Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski.
Moskovski told BNR Sunday that the plan for reforms of the vastly troubled state railway company coordinated with the World Bank called for the splitting of BDZ "Passenger Services" from BDZ "Freight Services."
"The privatization of the freight railway services unit itself will be carried out by the...
Bulgaria's total 2011 income from foreign tourists will reach EUR 2,7 B, according to estimates from the National Tourism Board, an NGO.
Thus, in 2011, Bulgaria's income from foreign tourists will grow by 4.5%, while the total number of foreign tourists who visited the country will be 14% greater. Earlier estimates put their total number at over 6 million.
At the same time, the total income from Bulgarian tourists will reach BGN 1.5 B, or about EUR 770 M, the Board has estimated, as cited...
The CEO of Lukoil Bulgaria, Valentin Zlatev, remains unwavering the company has not committed any tax or Customs law violations.
"Lukoil does not have even one citation for tax and Customs violations," Zlatev is quoted saying. He was adamant that Lukoil never stopped fulfilling the requirements of Order 3 for the installment of electronic measuring devices to be connected to the National Revenue Agency, NRA, and the Customs Agency.
Zlatev made the statement during a press conference in...
Building construction in Bulgaria is the cheapest in Europe, according to a comparative analysis of the EC Harris company, specializing in construction consulting.
The Bulgarian Trud (Labor) daily writes Saturday, citing the analysis, that expenses for construction in Bulgaria are anywhere between 38% and 66% from those in Southeastern UK, which was used as basis.
The study takes into account the price of construction material and labor expenses. Values in Bulgaria vary since buildings...
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