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...
Korea's КТ&G, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris and a few financial investors have declared interest in the privatization of Bulgaria's state cigarette producer Bulgartabac Holding, according to the consultant of the deal.
A majority stake - 79,83% - in Bulgaria's state cigarette producer Bulgartabac Holding, whose management has been harshly criticized in recent years, was put on sale on Tuesday after years of procrastination.
The long-delayed procedure will be...
The demand for gas in Europe has marked new records, according to an announcement by Russian gas giant Gazprom.
"The European gas marked is breaking all records. During this April Gazprom will have to fulfill deliveries that are larger than those for some winter months," stated company CEO Alexei Miller.
The Gazprom CEO added that he expects those records to be broken again within 2011, according to Russian agency RIA Novosti.
The Russian company expects December long-term contract...
Residents of Lyulin, one of the largest neighborhoods of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, gave a press-conference Monday to announce their demands for a ban on construction in their area.
Citizens, gathered in a number of organizations and initiative committees, voiced anger at what they saw as uncontrolled construction encroaching on public space in the neighborhood and additionally worsening their living conditions.
They have sent out letters to the highest state officers, including Parliament...
The Bulgarian Monbat battery producer, as well as its daughter company, Monbat Recycling SRL, have registered a 22% increase in revenues in the first quarter of 2011.
Monbat's sales revenue for the first 3 months of the year have reached BGN 55.8 M, the company has announced. Most of the company's production goes for export.
Monbat is a company which manufactures lead-acid batteries for various applications. Its product range includes starter batteries, stationary batteries, leisure,...
The Bulgarian Belene NPP will surely be constructed, the Russian Ambassador to the Balkan country, Yuriy Isakov, declared Saturday.
He was positive that the project is safe and financially rational.
"I am 100% sure that Belene NPP will be constructed. The project is beneficial for Bulgaria, Russia and Europe. It will provide clean, cheap and stable energy, that is why I am so enthusiastic. We are absolutely calm," Isakov told the Russian NTV, according to the Bulgarian 24 chasa...
The Sofia cigarette factory of Bulgaria's still state-owned tobacco giant Bulgartabac has registered a substantial growth in exports.
Sofia BT's export grew by 38.2% in the first quarter of 2011 year-on-year, according to the financial data of the company published on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
In the first three months of 2011, the total amount of cigarettes the country sold in Bulgaria and abroad grew by 58% y/y to reach 1.94 billion pieces. The share of the exported produce declined...
The management of Bulgaria's only operational Kozloduy NPP has denied being involved in any way in the ongoing Bulgarian-Russian talks for the construction a second nuclear plant in Belene.
What is more, senior Bulgarian officials made it clear Friday that Bulgaria must be very careful in the talks with Russia on the Belene project because if Bulgaria backs out of it, then Russia can block the extension of the life of Kozloduy's two operational reactors.
On Thursday, the Vice President of...
TransGlobal Assets, an Oregon-based company, has announced plans to acquire a Bulgarian Black Sea resort development, an investment estimated at USD 400 M once completed.
TransGlobal Assets, Inc. has signed a letter of intent and has received the project plans for the acquisition and development of the White Lagoon Resort project located in Topola Village near Kavarna, Bulgaria on the Black Sea coastline.
The White Lagoon project is anticipated to be valued at more than USD 400 M USD when...
The crude construction of Bulgaria's first National Sports Arena has been completed ahead of schedule by the state company Glavbolgarstroy.
The construction of the 12 410-seat arena, which will be opened on June 24, 2011, has cost BGN 108 M, or BGN 22 M less than the initially announced price.
The annual operation costs of the sports facility will be about BGN 2.5 M, according to a report of Mediapool, which points out that the project has been a controversial one because of the special...
Major international transport companies have declared interest in the concessions of Sofia International Airport announced by the Bulgarian government on April 6, the Transport Ministry said.
The largest Bulgarian airport will most likely be in private hands at the beginning of 2012, according to the Transport Ministry, as cited by the bTV channel.
The Ministry is set to work out the conditions for the concession tender within the next 3-4 months, and the tender itself will be announced...
The market price index of Bulgaria's dwellings for the first quarter of 2011year on year was 94.4%, i.e. the average decrease of the market prices of the dwellings was 5.6%, according to the country's National Statistical Institute.
The market price index of the Bulgarian dwellings for the first quarter of 2011 compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 was 97.7%, i.e. the average decrease of the market prices of the dwellings was 2.3%.
In the first quarter of 2011 compared to the previous...
Bulgaria's Cabinet intends to take measures to encourage foreign direct investment in the northwestern part of the country, the Severozapaden region, which is the poorest EU region.
Finance Minister Simoen Djankov will propose that the state lower the criteria for receiving a "Class A" investor status for companies in investing in Northwestern Bulgaria, MP from ruling party GERB Nikolay Kotsev announced on TV7.
Class A investor status is awarded by the Bulgarian state to large-scale...
Bulgaria's Parliament has adopted a controversial draft of the long-anticipated Renewable Energy Act that seems to be designed to reign in the staggering growth of solar and wind energy projects.
Until now, the state was obliged to purchase electricity produced from renewable energy generators at high, fixed prices, which has led to a jump in declared investments totaling over 6 000 – a capacity surpassing that of the national grid.
According to the new law, long-termed fixed prices of...
Bulgaria and Romania, where the crisis hit later than elsewhere, are set to see the biggest improvements in growth in 2011 and 2012 among European Union newcomers, according to a World Bank report.
Two and a half years after the global financial crisis broke, the economic activity in the EU10 rebounded in parallel with the EU15, according to the World Bank's new EU10 Regular Economic Report.
Growth strengthened in the second half of 2010, supported by restocking, a double-digit expansion...
Nickelodeon will launch a localised block in Bulgaria next Monday, Broadband TV news reported.
It will be carried for four hours daily – two hours of preschool animation in the morning and two hours of animation and live action in the afternoon – on TV7's cable, satellite and FTA terrestrial analogue platforms including TV7 and Super 7.
It will also be available as part of the TV7 IPTV service.
The deal, which was brokered on behalf of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) by...
Bulgaria faces being taken to arbitration by the Russian contractor Rosatom over the nuclear plant project in Belene as it is likely to miss the July 1 deadline for signing a final agreement for its construction.
Bulgaria has committed to sign an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for building a nuclear power plant at Belene, Russian Komersant newspaper reported, citing representatives of state-owned Rosatom Corp.
If the contract is not signed by July 1, Bulgaria...
Bulgarian IT companies and research and development organizations attracted a total of EUR 4 M in EU funding for IT projects in 2010, Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport and ITC announced.
While the sum is not impressive in absolute terms, it is double the EU money won by the Bulgarian IT sector in 2009, the ministry data shows.
Thus, Bulgarian scientific institutes and private IT companies got a total of EUR 3.2 M for projects under the Seventh Framework Program, with additional EUR 651 530...
Some seven or eight new foreign companies have declared interest in starting outsourcing and offshoring operations in Bulgaria, according to Borislav Stefanov, head of the InvestBulgaria Agency.
Speaking at a conference on outsourcing in Sofia Wednesday, Stefanov cited data from a survey carried out by the McKinsey consultancy, which showed that in the past two years the number of people employed in the outsourcing sector in Central and Eastern Europe grew from 220 000 to 250...
Bulgaria's Environment Ministry made BGN 2.259 M in 2010 from the much celebrated concessions of mineral water sources around the country.
The modest 2010 revenues came from the 26 concessions of a total of 40 mineral water springs amidst public debate on the use of Bulgaria's substantial mineral water resources.
Various experts and state and municipal officials have been pointing to their untapped potential as a source of wealth for many poor Bulgarian municipalities.
In April 2010,...
Bulgaria ranks 135th in the world by the quality of its road infrastructure, Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, announced Tuesday.
Traikov took part in the conference "Competitiveness of Bulgarian Economy – Absorption of EU Funds."
The Minister further said Bulgaria ranks 90th by innovations, behind countries such as Tunisia and Indonesia, which are rated among the top 50.
Other rankings reported by the Minister are – the 140th spot by effectiveness of institutions,...
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