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...
Bulgaria's government has hopes the country will be able to assume a leading innovation role with respect to the development and use of electric cars, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov has suggested.
Speaking at an international conference in Sofia Thursday entitled "Electric Cars – Challenges to New Mobility" Traikov declared that since electric cars are an innovative and new product, "new players" can assume a major role in the development of this market, hinting that Bulgaria has...
About a dozen strategic and financial investors have declared interest in the privatization of Bulgaria's state cigarette producer Bulgartabac Holding, according to Economy Minister Traicho Traikov.
Unofficial information reported in the Bulgarian media says that the bidders seeking to purchase Bulgartabac include companies from Bulgaria, Greece, and South Korea.
Traikov has announced that next week the government will announce its decision on the privatization method – i.e. whether...
Bulgaria ended 2010 with a trade deficit that is 42.5% lower than the one in 2009, according to preliminary date of the National Statistical Institute.
Thus, in 2010, Bulgaria exported goods and services worth BGN 30.421 B, which is a 33% increase compared with 2009.
Bulgaria's 2010 imports was BGN 37.4 B, or 13.3% more than it was in 2009 (BGN 31 B). Thus, Bulgaria's trade deficit in 2010 amounted to BGN 7 B (FOB-CIF).
After subtracting the spending on transport and insurance, the...
Bulgarian Minister in charge of EU funds absorption Tomislav Donchev has invited firms from Northern Ireland to do business in Bulgaria.
Four construction sector companies were among eight Northern Ireland firms to attend a briefing recently hosted by Invest NI on doing business in Bulgaria, reports 4NI.
During the briefing Donchev urged them to seize business opportunities resulting from investment by the Bulgarian government in infrastructure and its business base.
The event was...
Bulgaria has registered a 23.8% boost in its exports to other EU member states year on year in the period January – November 2010, according to the National Statistical Institute's preliminary data.
Bulgaria's exports in the period amounted to BGN 17 B. The largest growths were recorded in the sections "Crude materials, inedible (except fuel)" and "Chemical and related products". A fall was observed only in exports of one section – „Beverages and tobacco"
Bulgaria's main trade...
Americans are giving up their citizenship in order to obtain Bulgarian or Austrian passports, the Swiss financial daily "Agefi" claims.
The grounds for this decision are the unbearable tax burdens in the US, particularly the heritage tax, according to the publication.
The motivation is based on the fact many countries have "discretely" introduced citizenship granting programs based on purely economic principles such as Austria, Saint Kitts and Dominica, while Bulgaria, Singapore, Belgium...
By the end of 2013, Bulgaria will have railway lines for high-speed transport of both passengers and freight, said Milcho Lambrev, Director General of National Railway Infrastructure Company.
However, in his words, having high-speed railways for over 200 km/h would be economically unprofitable for Bulgaria.
"The territory of the country is characterized by very rugged terrain. In order to introduce railway lines for speeds above 200 km/h, we have to build many and expensive equipment,...
Bulgaria has achieved the much desired restoration of its accreditation for the international trade with greenhouse gas quotas by the UN Committee for Compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.
Bulgaria's Environment Ministry announced Saturday the permit to trade with Bulgaria's carbon quotas – which is expected to bring in fresh revenues for the state budget – was restored during the 12th meeting of the Kyoto Protocol Compliance Committee in Bonn, Germany, on February 3-4.
The Ministry...
The Czech-owned electricity provider of Sofia and Western Bulgaria CEZ plans to invest a total of BGN 59 M in its network and capacities in 2011.
The CEZ investments only in the Sofia District will be BGN 16.5 M, the company said in a statement.
On Thursday, CEZ opened a new power substation near the town of Kostinbrod close to Sofia, while being a small town, is a hub for several manufacturing plant of Bulgarian and foreign investors.
"The clients are the main priority for our...
Bulgarian public relations expert Maxim Behar has been selected to moderate the opening debate of the World PR Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The World Forum for Communication Top-Managers will start on February 17 in Davos, Switzerland, and will continue for two days.
Bulgaria's PR guru Maxim Behar will be in charge of the debate between two of the world's leading experts in PR and marketing – Paul Holmes, Founder and CEO of The Holmes Report and the SABRE awards, and Garrett Johnston,...
Bulgaria will be looking for a strategic investor for its largest weapons factory, VMZ Sopot, which has been scheduled for privatization.
This a major win for Minister of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov, who has been fighting with FinMin Simeon Djankov, a supporter of a mere financial investor.
"Financial investors will be able to participate only in a consortium with stategic investors," said Traikov for the Bulgarian National Radio.
"Our goal is not to get rid of the company, but...
The breaking ground for the largest so far shopping mall in Bulgaria will be made in June 2011, in the area of the southern loop of the capital Sofia's beltway.
The news was reported Wednesday by the Minister of Regional Development, Rosen Plevneliev, who, together with the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, inspected the construction of the road junction "Simeonovo" to the "Mladost" junction on the beltway.
The mall will have an area of 180 000 square meters and the investment amount is...
Israeli holding, named Bulgarian Agriculture Properties, is planning to invest in the vegetables production and processing sector in the Bulgarian city of Yambol.
As a result, about 2500 new job positions are expected to be revealed in the city.
Last week representatives of the company visited Yambol following the invitation of the Chair of the Municipal Council, Nasko Stefanov, who had asked the Yambol mayor, Georgi Slavov, to point out suitable sites for greenhouse and summer production...
Five more shopping malls will open doors in Sofia in the next 2-3 years, according to real estate company GVA Sollers Solutions.
Construction works have already begun for three of them. The mall in the Lozenets district of Sofia is currently at the most advanced stage. Its name is "Paradise Center" and it is expected to be the largest mall in Bulgaria.
It is expected to have a built-up area of more than 170,000 square meters, with commercial area of 75,000 square meters.
At present,...
The Center for Urban Mobility at the Sofia City Hall plans to extend the paid parking hours in downtown Bulgaria's capital to 8 pm on workdays.
Currently parking in the so-called blue zone is free after 6 pm. According to the planned changes, the blue zone will be divided in 2 – one with prices of BGN 2 per hour, the other – BGN 1 per hour.
The new blue zone will be enclosed between the "Slivnitsa," "Vasil Levski," "Skobelev," and "Hristo Botev" boulevards. In this area, the parking...
Bulgaria’s Economy Minister Traicho Traikov and Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos opened Saturday a new tobacco processing plant in the Bulgarian town of Sandanski.
About EUR 9.5 M have been invested in the new plant of the Greek Leaf Tobacco company and it will provide jobs for 600 people.
The new facility will be connected to the central production hall of the company in Policastro, Greece.
The plant in Sandanski, which has a production capacity of 4 to 6 tons per...
Bulgaria's IT market will grow by an annual average of 6% in 2011-2015, according to the Bulgaria Information Technology Report 2011 of Business Monitor International (BMI).
The report says that Bulgarian IT market will grow to an estimated USD 947 M in 2011, up from USD 902 M in 2010.
The compounded annual growth rate of 6% forecast by BMI for the Bulgarian IT sector is below the pre-economic crisis trend level.
The report says that Bulgarian IT spending is forecast to record low...
Bulgaria's composite business climate index improved by 1.9% in January compared with December 2010.
The index is already 6.6 percentage points over its lowest value in the past two years, according to data of the National Statistical Institute.
The improvement is largely due to the increase of the business climate in industry by 4.2% compared with December 2010 because of the managers' better expectations for the next six months.
The indicator for production activity of the Bulgarian...
The troubled VMZ Sopot factory, which is Bulgaria's largest defense industry plant and was once the pride of its military-industrial complex, will be put on the privatization table by the Borisov Cabinet.
The decision to start the privatization of VMZ Sopot is No. 1 on the agenda of the government's weekly meeting on Thursday.
The Bulgarian Cabinet is expected to approve for sale all 118 million shares of the military giant. The privatization is supposed to take place with a tender,...
The Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism has launched an online calendar listing interesting tourists sites and events.
The calendar has a web address - www.potarsi.bulgariatravel.org.
The site will be updated consistently and will collect information about travel, city and town celebrations, festivals, and others.
Users, organizations and institutions are invited to contribute to the site's content by sending information to office@reforma.bg, the Ministry...
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