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...
Berlin. “German-Bulgarian bilateral relations have developed,” Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said speaking at a meeting of the members of the German-Bulgarian Forum, at which he presented what Bulgaria had achieved 10 years after signing the Accession Treaty with the EU, the press centre of the Bulgarian President’s Office announced.
“German-Bulgarian bilateral relations have developed, too. Over the past ten years the merchandise exchange between Germany and Bulgaria has...
The deadline for the completion of construction works at Lot 2 of the Struma motorway is October 2015, according to Bulgarian Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova.
On Sunday, Pavlova conducted a sudden inspection of the progress of the 38km motorway section connecting Dupnitsa and Blagoevgrad.
Pavlova, as cited by the Focus agency, declared that she had been told by workers of the contractor that the construction works were to be wrapped up by end-October 2015.
She noted...
Bulgaria has marked a 10% increase in EU funds absorption over the first 5 months of 2015, according to a statement made available through a specialized Directorate to the Bulgarian Council of Ministers.
According to the data, 77,45% of the funds have been absorbed by end May 2015 as compared to 67,4% by end 2014. Regardless of the overall good pace in EU fund implementation, it will still not suffice for Bulgaria to surpass 85% by the end of the year.
The report further shows that since...
UK tourists can book a bargain holiday in several countries in Europe including Bulgaria this summer thanks to the strong British pound, according to dailymail.co.uk.
According to recent statistics compiled by the UK’s Post Office, the British pound has gained 11.7% against the Bulgarian lev and 16.1% against the Turkish lira since 2014, boosting the spending power of British tourists visiting those countries. Against the euro, the pound is now 19% more expensive than it was in 2013.
A...
Small companies create over 70% of the jobs in Bulgaria, according to President Rosen Plevneliev.
Plevneliev handed Tuesday an award to the winner in the first national competition for successful small businesses titled “The Big Small”, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.
There were 15 finalists in the competition, all of them in the sphere of production and services.
The competition seeks to encourage entrepreneurship.
“The small ones are the big ones in the...
Sofia. Military Club in the Bulgarian capital city Sofia hosted a meeting of the countries in the Danube Region. The forum was themed “Sustainable tourism through cooperation with European funds and investments” and was organised by the Bulgarian Ministry of tourism.
The event was attended by Bulgarian Minister of Economy Bozhidar Lukarski and Mayor of the capital city Sofia Yordanka Fandakova, while the special guests were representatives of the World Tourism Organisation with the UN, the...
The Bulgaria's economy jumped by 2% in the first quarter. This is a record for the past four years, as there has not been such a large GDP increase on an annual basis since 2011, National Statistics Institute data suggests.
Compared to the previous quarter Bulgaria's economy grew by 0.9%, which is also the best result of nearly five years. The growth is mainly a result of good indicators in the industrial sector, but the real estate transactions have also increased significantly by achieving...
Bulgaria's second largest city Plovdiv is an example of the country's thriving outsourcing industry, accounting for almost 4 per cent of GDP, according to the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association (BOA). Bulgaria is the world's ninth "most preferred" outsourcing destination in consultancy A T Kearney's 2014 Global Services Location Index, The Financial Times reports.
Fluency in languages and traditions in software development and programming are a draw, while macroeconomic stability and a...
Stara Zagora. “After infrastructure projects it comes the turn of the factories. This is what rehabilitates economy,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said at the opening of an Automotive Gasket Plant in the town of Stara Zagora, a reporter of FOCUS News Agency announced.
The Prime Minister said that this is a huge investment, Bulgaria gives only 10-15%, and the rest are European investments.
"The government fully implemented the European programmes," the Prime Minister added.
The...
Doha. Sheikh Faisal bin Saud Al Thani, Head of Business Development - Qatar Holding at Qatar Investment Authority declared interest in investment in transport infrastructure, energy and agriculture. Representatives of the Holding met with Bulgarian Prime minister Boyko Borisov and Bulgarian ministers who pay an official visit to Doha, the governmental information service announced.
During the talks Qatar state officials reaffirmed their interest in operating of Doha-Varna line. A Qatari...
South Korea and Bulgaria have agreed to boost cooperation in infrastructure development, Yonhap News Agency has said.
According to Yonhap's report, this paves the way "for South Korea to make inroads into the East European country's infrastructure projects".
During Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev's three-day visit to South Korea (May 12-13), he also witnessed alongside counterpart Park Geun-hye the signing of 3 memorandums on understanding urging cooperation in defense, science and...
An investment package of nearly EUR 150 M into the Bulgarian economy is being considered by leading copper producer Aurubis, the company's CEO Tim Kurt has said.
At a press conference, Kurt and the company's Secretary General Georgi Nikolov warned of a number of challenges that Bulgaria's business environment poses to businesses, such as the administrative burden.
Electricity prices for industrial consumers are also of concern, with the company paying EUR 50 per MWh in Bulgaria compared...
Stamen Yanev, Executive Director of the InvestBulgaria Agency, has suggested that Pleven anticipates investment amounting to EUR 30 M.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion uniting representatives of regional businesses and the central and local authorities, Yanev noted that it was too early to disclose details about the project.
The discussion on the development opportunities for the Pleven Municipality was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva, Deputy Economy Minister Daniela...
The two-day EUROCITIES Forum is taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria, under the theme “Funding of Public Transport and New Business Models”. EUROCITIES is the network of major cities in Europe and currently gathers the local governments of over 50 of Europe’s largest cities from across 30 European countries. All of them share knowledge and exchange ideas throughout six forums, including the environment and mobility one; a wide range of working groups, events, EU-funded projects, in which...
Why should we care about border regions? Because they represent a unique example of how people live – a cross section of their differences and similarities.
Border regions can give us a better understanding of countries’ social and economic developments.They can tell the stories of a musher in Finnish Lapland, speaking fluently Russian, or a grape grower in Southeast Bulgaria, close to the Turkish border. Living close to a national border affects the way people interact with each other...
Bulgarian Minister of Economy Bozhidar Lukarski will take part in a Bulgarian-French business seminar themed “Bulgarian market: investments and business opportunities”, which is organised by the Business France in Paris, the press office of the Bulgarian ministry announced.
The forum will present the opportunities for attraction of foreign and French investors, in particular, in Bulgaria’s priority economic sectors.
The business forum will be attended by French Secretary of State for...
“For several years we lived in the worst financial crisis, the world was shaking. We managed to handle it during our previous mandate,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said speaking at the first national discussion within the “Yes! To Bulgarian Economy” held in the capital city Sofia, FOCUS News Agency reporter said.
“When the crisis was gone, Bulgaria drowned. Since December 4 until now we have shared out nearly BGN 3.6 billion to more than 100,000 depositors at Corporate...
“You can no longer complain that the city of Burgas gets more help than Varna. There are more than BGN 300 million investments in the city,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said speaking during his visit to the coastal city of Varna, Radio FOCUS reported.
The Prime Minister commented further that nothing significant had been done in the city for 30-40 years, which was seen in the needed repair works that were underway on key boulevards in Varna.
Borisov added that there would be...
Bulgaria Translation