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 Bulgarian Postal Services have made BGN 250 000 in profits in 2010, the Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications, Aleksander Tsvetkov, told the media Saturday.
Tsvetkov further pointed out the Posts have registered a loss of BGN 8 M compared to the 2010 positive result.
The Minister and his 9-year-old daughter, Mariana, sent a letter to Santa from the new postal services counter at the "Opalchenska" metro stop in Sofia. A new postal branch is also open at the...
The Dzherman hydro-power plant, an investment of "Electricite de France Energies Nouvelles" (EDF EN), was formally opened in Southwestern Bulgaria on Saturday.
French energy company, which is one of the largest in Europe, has invested a total of EUR 4.16 M in the hydro-power plant.
The plant has a capacity of 3 MW; it will be producing about 10 500 MW/h of electricity a year. It was opened by Bulgaria's Economy, Energy, and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov and the new French Ambassador to...
Bulgaria has registered the highest year-on-year growth of its exports of all EU 27 countries in the first nine months of 2010, according to latest Eurostat data.
Bulgaria's exports grew by 33% in January-September 2010 compared with the same period of 2009. It is followed by Latvia, whose exports grew by 29% year-on-year, Lithuania (28%), Estonia (28%), and Romania (26%).
Luxembourg is the only EU 27 country that registered a decrease of its exports in this period of -4%.
Sweden...
The Bulgarian government is the only one in Europe that reduced the tax burden in a difficult crisis year such as 2010, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said.
"There is no other government in Europe that did what we did. 2010 was a year of financial stability for Bulgaria. We did not raise the taxes, and did not decrease the pensions. There will be a reduction of the VAT rather soon in 2011. By the end of our term, there will be a second decrease of the value-added tax," Djankov promised on...
Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency has opened the Daskalovo road junction, which is expected to unclog the road traffic in all of Western Bulgaria, including the roads to Macedonia and Greece.
The Daskalovo junction connects two major highways in Southwestern Bulgaria, which are still under construction – the 19-km Lyulin Highway, and the 156-km Struma Highway.
The head of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Bozhidar Yotov, opened on Friday only the lower level of the Daskalovo road...
The supermarket chain Billa is opening Saturday its 20th store in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the company announced.
Billa, which is owned by German concern REWE Group, currently operates 84 outlets in Bulgaria.
The new store is located in the very heart of the capital's downtown, on 116 "Rakovski" street, near the "Slaveykov" square.
Despite being smaller than the Billa supermarkets in the suburbs, of the so-called compact type, the store will offer a variety of merchandise,...
The Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Exim Bank) has signed a permanent cooperation agreement.
The aim of the agreement is to encourage and promote investment and trade between Bulgaria and the Republic of Korea.
The document was signed by the CEOs of BDB, Dimitar Dimitrov and Sasho Chakalski, and the President and Chairman of the Korea Exim Bank, Dongsoo Kim.
The two banks have agreed to finance projects to together and to work to boost the...
Bulgaria's long- and short- term foreign and local currency credit ratings has been affirmed as 'BBB/A-3' by the credit agency Standard&Poor's.
The agency has deemed the long-term credit rating outlook for the country as stable. The transfer and convertibility risk assessment (T&C assessment) rating remains an unchanged 'A'.
"The ratings on the Republic of Bulgaria factor in our favorable view of its fiscal track record, its low gross debt, and its medium-term growth...
Bulgarian Trakiya highway's permit application form is to be approved by the European Commission by the end of 2010, according to Deputy Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski.
The application form has gone through all the required processing and is currently undergoing a mutual agreement procedure at the European Commission, Moskovski announced.
The highway's total budget is EUR 250 M, of which EUR 188 M has already been secured.
The construction of the longest trace betwen towns of...
The Business for Sale supplement of Financial Times has listed 140 Bulgarian businesses, offered for sale.
Most are real estate properties, but the offers also include companies such as a software business and even a TV channel.
Buyers are mostly attracted to hotels and family vacation homes. Listing prices are over USD 1 M to the record USD 35 M for a hotel in Bulgaria's largest summer resort "Sunny Beach.".
Properties for sale include a land plot near the Sofia airport, an office...
The "first real shopping mall" in the Bulgarian Danube city of Ruse opened doors with large crowds of shoppers storming it to raid the brand new stores.
The total investment in the construction of "Mega Mall" is BGN 64 M; the total built-up area of the mall is 48 000 square meters.
Of those, the commercial space is 17 800 square meters, and contains 100 stores, many of which are occupied by global brands entering the market of the Danube city of Ruse for the first time. The popular...
The Bulgarian government announced Thursday three new bids for exploration for oil and gas in the northern parts of the country.
Bulgarian legislation has it that companies must compete to get a permit to either explore or produce undergroun natural resources.
Of the three new territories open for prospecting, two are in the northeastern and one in the northwestern part of the country.
The territories are: "Block 4 Kubrat" (area: 2,500 sq.km.), "Block 5 Byala" (2000 sq.km.) and "Block...
Several Bulgarian NGOs on promoting web technologies have come together to form what has been described as informal association of the digital industry.
The participants that signed Thursday a cooperation memorandum include the Webit Ambassadors Program for Central and Eastern Europe, a program of the organizers of the largest e-business expo in Eastern Europe – the Sofia-based Webit; the Bulgarian Advertisers' Association, the Bulgarian National Self-Regulation Council, the Bulgarian Web...
Bulgarian households' financial wealth has increased by nearly BGN 4 B over the past year, according to Sofia-based consultancy Industry Watch.
Industry Watch's report "Personal Assets in Bulgaria: Financial Weatlh and Housing Market, Q3 2010" indicating that at the end of November 2010, Bulgarians' assets were worth a little more than BGN 38 B.
The Financial assets of the population have increased by 11% y-o-y due to the increased propensity of households to save. However, the report...
Bulgaria's Cabinet and the World Bank have singed a "memorandum of understanding" for reforms in the Bulgarian state railways company BDZ.
The exact sums of the loans that Bulgaria will get from the international financial institution have not been completely negotiated yet, announced Finance Minister and Deputy PM Simeon Djankov.
The memorandum signed Wednesday is a framework agreement which outlines the key reform priorities in the Bulgarian railway sector, and is an actual follow-up to...
Bulgaria's only stock exchange became a public company after the Financial Supervision Commission approved its prospectus and the bourse was listed on its own platform.
The capital of the bourse is a total of BGN 6 582 860 at BGN 1 apiece. The actual trade with shares will start after the upcoming registration of the stock exchange's public state and new status in the Trade Registry.
Bulgaria's Finance Ministry raised at the beginning of October its share to 50% plus one share from 44% in...
Bulgaria's economy minister will launch officially on Tuesday the construction works of a EUR 150 M, 45-megawatt solar park in central Bulgaria, near the city of Veliko Tarnovo.
SDN Co., a South Korean producer of power generators, solar modules and marine propellers, is building the photovoltaic park, which will be the biggest in the country.
EUR 20 M have already been invested in the solar power plant since August...
Two units of Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA have acquired minority stakes in Bulgarian lender Corporate Commercial Bank AD, the bank announced.
Generali conducted the transactions through its units Fata Assicurazioni Danni SpA and Fata Vita SpA, the bank said.
The price of the deal was not disclosed, but hours before it was concluded the Corporate Commercial Bank sold a 2.67% for nearly BGN 10 M on the Sofia Stock Exchange.
The new shareholders are known to have close ties...
The introduction of electric cars in Bulgaria will be encouraged through creating a network of charging stations, a memorandum states.
The memorandum between Sofia's mayor Yordanka Fandakova and the regional manager of the Czech-owned power utility CEZ for Bulgaria, Jan Vavera, was signed Tuesday.
Fandakova has committed to facilitate the granting of permits and establishing of rights needed to build charging stations on municipal property.
On its part, the power utility will...
The company "BG Privateinvest" is the new owner of the two of the leading Bulgarian dailies "Trud" (Labor), "24 Chasa" (24 Hours), and the weekly "168 Chasa" (168 Hours), "Trud" writes Tuesday afternoon.
Vienna-based "BG Privateinvest GmbH" and Germany's third largest newspaper and magazine publisher WAZ media group have signed the agreement to transfer WAZ ownership of the above newspapers, its magazines, the printing facility "Sofia" and the distribution company "Strela" (Arrow) to the...
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