Finmin Djankov: Some incomes will increase in 2013
(Sofia, Jan 5) - "The Financial 2012 finished better than expected," Bulgaria's Finmin Simeon Djankov commented for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT).
"Due to overfulfilment of the revenues by the National Revenue agency and Customs agency, the budget deficit for 2012 is by 3 times less than planned and this will allow an additional increase of some of the incomes in 2013," Mr Djankov stated.
At this stage Finmin Djankov...
NPP Kozloduy to Sell Electricity Abroad without Intermediaries
(Sofia Jan 5, 2013) - The management of Bulgaria's NPP Kozloduy will apply to the State Energy and Waters Regulatory Commission for a full license to sell its electricity to end-users abroad, NPP Kozloduy CEO Valentin Nikolov said.
Presently, NPP Kozloduy uses intermediary companies to sell its output to end-users in several EU member states, including Germany and Austria.
"At the beginning of next week I am going to...
Bulgaria to Pay EUR 879 M on Foreign Debt in 10 Days
The next bonds maturity dates are in 2015 and 2017
(Sofia, Jan 5, 2012) - EUR 879,849,875 ? this is the sum that Bulgaria is to pay on its foreign debt on January 15th, 2013, the finance ministry said.
Thus, Bulgaria will fully pay off the emission of Eurobonds with a 7.5-percent interest, emitted in 2002 by Milen Velchev, finance minister in the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-led Cabinet.
So as to pay off this loan, the Bulgarian...
Nearly BGN four million have been wired Friday for salaries of workers at Bulgaria's State-owned arms manufacturer, VMZ Sopot.
The news was announced by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, at an emergency briefing at the Council of Ministries building. He declared the workers will receive the entire amount of their overdue pay.
It was further reported that Borisov is meeting Friday with the Presidents of the two main trade unions in the country – Konstantin Trenchev of the Confederation of...
Czech-owned power utility CEZ has always strictly adhered to Bulgarian legislation and the normative acts of the European Union, the company says in a press release.
According to its press office, for the electric power distributor, part of CEZ Bulgaria Group, obeying the law, including tax law, was a guiding principle that should not even be commented on.
The statement comes on the heels of news that the prosecution in Bulgaria has requested the revocation of the company's license over...
The World Bank will continue to support the development of Bulgaria's infrastructure, its Director for Central Europe and the Baltic countries, Peter Harrold, stated in Sofia Wednesday.
Harrold, who met with Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, has guaranteed that the International Financial Corporation, the member of the World Bank Group that finances and provides advice for private sector ventures and projects, will continue to support the country's green investments, as well as the...
EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has confirmed the decision of the European Commission to terminate the excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria.
European Union Finance Ministers met in Brussels on February 14 and 15, 2011, confirming the recent position of the EC that Bulgaria needs take no further steps to curb its budget deficit under the bloc's rules on government finances.
The European Union's executive said on January 27 that four countries, including...
Bulgaria's year on year January inflation has been 4.5%, according to the National Statistical Institute's preliminary data.
The inflation in Bulgaria has grown with 0.6% in comparison with December 2010, shows the consumer price index, the country's official measure of inflation. The annual average inflation, measured by this index, in the last 12 months (February 2010 - January 2011) compared to the previous 12 months (February 2009 - January 2010) has been 2.8%.
The harmonized index of...
Bulgaria's GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2010 is 2,1%, year on year and 1,7% compared to the previous quarter, according to the National Statistical Institute's flash estimates.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, the GDP at current prices amounted to BGN 19 924 B. The GDP for 2010 in monetary terms amounted to BGN 70 568 B.
Compared to the third quarter of 2010, gross value added of the total economy increased by 0.4%. According to flash estimates of GDP by final expenditure, in...
During the fourth quarter of 2010, the average monthly salary in Bulgaria went up by 4.9% compared to the third quarter, to reach BGN 669.
The data was released Friday by the National Statistics Institute (NSI).
The average salary in October, November and December was BGN 650, 667 and 691 respectively.
The highest increases were registered in Education (13%), Financial Services (10%) while the salaries went down the most in Administration (1%) and the Mining Sector (0.1%).
During...
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...
Bulgaria, which has the lowest personal and corporate income tax in the EU at 10%, may change the levels of direct taxes after a referendum in 2013, a bill of the finance ministry suggests.
"Should the bill be adopted, the citizens will be given the power to define the government's tax policy as of 2013," Finance Minister Simeon Djankov told journalists in parliament, adding this would be a big step forward.
"This is a measure, which will show that Bulgaria is not only the country with...
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...
Some texts of the Social Security Act will be challenged in the Bulgarian Constitutional Court, the right-wing Blue Coalition announced Wednesday.
The Coalition is joined by the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and several independent Members of the Parliament, who want the texts declared anti-constitutional.
The co-Chair of the Blue Coalition, Ivan Kostov, announced they have been able to collect 52 signatures in...
Not a single one of the dozens of doomsday scenarios forecast for Bulgaria's economy and state finances by foreign and Bulgarian observers has materialized, central bank head Ivan Iskrov has declared.
Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, presented during a seminar in Sofia Friday a ranking of the top 30 bad forecasts for Bulgaria's financial stability that failed materialize in spite of what he described as slander in international media.
"Professional "traders of fear" have...
Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, the largest private bank in Turkey, intends to open a branch in Sofia through its subsidiary based in Germany, Isbank GmbH.
This has become clear from a report of the Bulgarian National Bank cited by the Dnevnik Daily, which says that after a notification by the German Financial Supervision Service, Isbank GmbH has started preparations for entering the Bulgarian market.
By using the EU passport of its German subsidiary, the Turkish bank will avoid the procedures...
International credit rating agency Fitch has confirmed the long-term foreign-currency rating of the Bulgarian Development Bank at BBB-.
The rating of the bank is the same with that of the Bulgarian government. It remains with a negative perspective.
Fitch Ratings has also confirmed the short-term foreign currency rating and the individual rating of the Bulgarian development bank.
According to a statement of the Bulgarian Finance Ministry, "the confirmed ratings by Fitch reflect the...
Bulgaria's Finance Minister Simeon Djankov is on a three-day visit to Georgia, the Financial Ministry announced.
On Monday, Djankov is going to participate with a public lecture in a conference entitled "Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs: Reforming Business Regulation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia" in Georgia's capital Tbilisi.
Later, he will meet Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, Prime Minister Nika Giladuri and Finance Minister Kakha Baindurashvili.
On Tuesday,...
The Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank has approved two projects in Bulgaria, aimed at providing financing for SMEs in order to promote job creation and growth.
The first project is worth EUR 20 M with the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and will make long-term resources available for productive investments by private entrepreneurs.
The other is worth EUR 5 M with the Societe Generale Expressbank and aims to facilitate access to bank credit for SMEs.
The...
Bulgaria's center-right government has revived its plans to apply to join the bloc's exchange-rate mechanism, the so-called Eurozone waiting room, after it was forced to drop the euro bid in April this year over a larger than expected 2009 deficit.
"Bulgaria is likely to apply to join ERM II in the second half of 2011 after it has demonstrated that next year's budget deficit will fall below the European Union's ceiling of 3% of gross domestic product in line with the Maastricht criteria,"...
Bulgaria's government has raised a total of BGN 162 M from its latest sale of state bonds.
The government initially planned to sell 10.5-year bonds for a total of BGN 25 M but the demand turned out to be 6.5 times higher and led it to expand the bond issue.
Because of that and since the average return on the bonds turned out to be record low 5.81%, the Finance Ministry decided to sell more state bonds.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement that the new bond issue is of great...
Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov presented the draft budget bill for 2011 in front of four parliamentary committees Thursday, calling it "a budget of stability."
The draft was tabled to Parliament October 1 and Thursday it was reviewed by the Committees on Finance, Economic Policy, Social Policy and Healthcare.
Djankov confirmed a 3.6% growth for 2011 and stated redistribution will be 35.5% of GDP.
He said no salaries or pensions will suffer reductions. According to...
Bulgaria will introduce a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector as of the beginning of April next year under amendments that parliament adopted at first reading on Thursday.
The move comes in response to the demand of the European Union that Bulgaria should harmonize tourism VAT, which currently stands at 7% for organized groups and 20% for individual tourism.
The government has said that the new tax had to be introduced at the beginning of 2011, but was delayed until April...
The Bulgarian economy will contract by 0.3% this year and grow by 2.5% in 2011, according to Bulgaria's Postbank, controlled by Greek EFG Eurobank.
The bank projects Bulgaria's inflation rate to reach 3% this year and mark a slight decrease to 2.7% in 2011.
"The real estate and construction sectors are no longer the drivers of Bulgaria's economy. Exports and tourism are the leading sectors now," says Anthony Hassiotis, the Country Manager for the six affiliated companies of the Eurobank...
Bulgaria's prime minister has described taxes in his country, which has a flat tax applicable for all income levels and one of the lowest effective rates in the world, as "fantastic".
"Bulgaria has at the moment low, favorable, fantastic tax rates. I would have rather expected our employers and businessmen to take every care that nothing bad is said about the government," Boyko Borisov told his ministers, according to the shorthand from their meeting on Wednesday.
"Given the conditions of...
Bulgaria Translation