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 Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has urged anew an emphasis on cultural and historical tourism, and a program to boost the Bulgarian pilgrimage sites.
Djankov took part Wednesday in a conference of the National Tourism Board, during which he encouraged the tourism sector to attract wealthier foreign tourists by focusing on cultural and historical sites, golf, and mountain tourism. He also said Bulgaria should not put efforts into developing its historical attractions from the...
Bulgaria is in no rush to join the euro zone, according to Kalin Hristov, Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank.
In an interview for Dow Jones Newswires cited by Bloomberg, Hristov has toned down Bulgaria's enthusiasm for adopting the common European currency even though this goal has been constantly reaffirmed as a priority by the Borisov Cabinet and especially by Finance Minister and Deputy PM Simeon Djankov.
"We're not rushing... there's no point running into a burning...
The occupation of industrial zones in the Bulgarian capital increased by 40% in 2010, according to an analysis by the consultant company Forton International.
The data from the analysis shows that the modern industrial zones in the region of Sofia increased by 27%, in comparison to the end of 2009, and are currently more than 538,000 square meters.
The beginning of 2010 set the start of a smooth decrease in the level of occupancy of industrial zones in Sofia. In the third quarter of the...
Sofia has topped the chart for cheapest European destinations, which includes 40 cities, according to the travel website priceoftravel.com.
Deutsche Welle has reported that the rating for 2011 was made on the basis of the prices for cheap/good hotel, transportation, meals, drinks/entertainment and attractions.
"Europe's cheapest tourist city [Sofia] is becoming more popular each year, partly due to the low prices for almost everything, but its remote location will still be a problem for...
Bulgaria is expected to resume its electricity exports to Turkey at the end of March 2010, according to the head of the Bulgarian National Electric Company NEK, Krasimir Parvanov.
"I am all up for restarting the electricity trade with our southern neighbor because it is no secret that the prices there are better than the market prices in the region," Parvanov said during a forum at the Parliament organized by the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy entitled "Energy and Better...
Bulgaria will take part in the International Holiday Exhibition CMT in Stuttgart, Germany and will present itself as a diverse holiday destination, the Bulgarian Economy Ministry has announced.
This year's edition of the exhibition, which will be held Tuesday, will focus on traditional tourism and traveling by caravans and motorcycles.
Bulgaria will participate with a 36 square meter stand, which will present the Municipality of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna and the resort Albena....
SES Astra, a Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe, is expanding into central and eastern Europe, and plans to enter into a new growth market, Bulgaria, in days, the company announced.
The Bulgarian Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator Satellite BG will use three transponders at SES Astra's 23.5 degrees East orbital position for broadcasting its channel portfolio to TV homes across Bulgaria.
Satellite BG will launch its channel bouquet on 1 February 2011. The offer will consist of more...
Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and Regional Minister, Rosen Plevneliev, are breaking Sunday the ground of the road junction Burgas - Sozopol and of the road Burgas - Sredets.
The contractor is the Varna-based "Hidrostroy." The project is being realized under the "Transit Roads V" program, with a loan from the European Investment Bank and through State financing. Its value is estimated at EUR 4.2 M without Value Added Tax (VAT).
Construction control, for the cost of BGN 148 000,...
SmartSoft, a Varna-based Bulgarian developer, has announced the launch of its new optical character recognition software called SmartOCR.
In a company statement, SmartSoft has pointed out that SmartOCR, a software application which delivers SmartSoft's optical character recognition technology, enables users to turn scanned paper documents and screenshots into fully editable and searchable digital files.
The companies says that the patent-pending SmartOCR technology delivers accuracy rates...
China's National Nuclear Corporation has reportedly voiced interest in the building of a seventh unit at Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant, the closure of which was one of the conditions for the country's EU accession.
Representatives of the company have visited the site of the nuclear plant at the beginning of this week, local Standard daily reported, citing undisclosed sources.
Bulgaria's new center-right government of GERB party announced at the end of November last year that it...
Bulgaria's first and biggest mobile operator M-Tel has wrapped up the deal for the acquisition of cable operators Megalan Network and Spectrum Net, it said in a statement.
The price of the deal, which was announced in the middle of September, is EUR 83 M.
M-Tel, which is part of Telecom Austria Group, acquired 100% of the two Internet providers. However, both companies will continue to work independently for a period of about 18 months.
With the acquisition of the two cable operators,...
The Bulgarian banking system is concentrated, with most of the system's assets owned by large Western European institutions with a strong presence in South Eastern Europe.
The information was reported in a review released by Moody's Investor Service Thursday.
"Competition in the market remains strong, particularly given Bulgaria's current economic downturn, as all the banks find it increasingly difficult to find good-quality lending opportunities to grow their business," the analysis...
A German company will build a wind generator park consisting of 30 wind turbines near the Southwestern Bulgarian town of Straldzha.
Mitko Andonov, Mayor of the Straldzha municipality has signed an initial contract giving the construction rights to the German company PNE Wind.
The final aim of the project is the construction of 30 turbines near the village of Kamenets with a total capacity of 54...
Bulgaria's Ministry of Agriculture and Foods will organize the "Days of Bulgarian Business" in Jordan.
The business forum and expo focused on trade in agricultural products will take place March 26-29, 2011, in Jordan's capital Amman.
The project was announced Thursday at a meeting of Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov and Hassan Barmaui, Honorary Consul of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Sofia.
"This will be a great opportunity for Bulgarian products on Jordan's...
The creation of Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) was adopted at second reading by the Parliament on Thursday.
The agency will start functioning as soon as the text is published in the Bulgarian State Gazette, which was expected to happen by January 1.
The voting for the text began in the end of 2010 and it delayed the launching of the new institution, which will include the currently existing National Veterinary Service, National Plant Protection Service, National Grain and Grain...
Bulgaria plans to sell government bonds worth BGN 1 B, down from the 2010 debt issue of BGN 1.5 B in total, as the Cabinet is seeing the Bulgarian economy return to growth, which should boost state revenues.
This has been announced by Deputy Finance Minister Boryana Pencheva in an interview for Reuters distributed by the Finance Ministry press center.
Pencheva said Bulgaria targets a 2011 government debt amounting to 18.2% of the GDP, a growth compared with the 14.6% at the end of 2010...
Bulgaria's real GDP, which contracted in 2009 and grew by an estimated 0.1% in 2010, is forecast to expand with an annual average growth of around 3.8% in 2011-15, according to the latest report of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
This year real GDP is expected to grow by 2.6%.
Annual inflation is forecast to increase to 3.3% in 2011 from an estimated 2.4% in 2010, before averaging around 3% in 2011-15, says the January Country report Updater for Bulgaria by The Economist's...
Bulgarian consumer price inflation marked a slight decrease for the first time in 16 months to 4.5% in December on an annual basis from 4.6% in November, data of the National Statistical Institute shows.
On a monthly basis, the index inched up by 0.4%, while the annual average inflation for the last 12 months was 2.4%.
Prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco shot up by 26.4% on an annual basis, while transport charges increased by 10.1%.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages...
Bulgaria registered a budget deficit of 3.9% in 2010 instead of the forecast 4.8%, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.
According to estimates of the Finance Ministry, Bulgaria's deficit under the consolidated fiscal framework on cash basis was BGN 2.8 B in 2010, or 3.9%.
The accrual deficit, which is measured according to EU accounting rules, was 3.6%. According to Bulgaria's revised 2010 State Budget Act approved in June, the expected 2010 budget...
Bulgaria has moved up to the 60th position in the 2011 Economic Freedom Index compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.
The Balkan country is one place behind Panama and one ahead of Kuwait. Romania is ranked 63rd.
Bulgaria's overall economic freedom score is 64.9, ranking it 60th freest in the 2011 Index. It indicates a 2.6 points increase, reflecting gains in seven of the 10 economic freedom categories. Bulgaria is ranked 26th out of 43 countries in the Europe...