German discount retailer Lidl announced it will open its first stores in Bulgaria on November 25 2010, a move that will heat up further the competition in the sector.
The shops will be located in 11 cities - Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Stara Zagora, Pazardzhik, Sliven, Kurdjali, Petrich, Montana, Lovech and Gabrovo.
At the beginning of the year German retailer Tengelmann decided to sell its discount retail chains in Romania and Bulgaria to its rival Lidl, which is part of Germany's Schwarz...
Korean companies are preparing to invest in Bulgaria's energy sector, including in renewable energy, South Korea's Ambassador to Bulgaria Chun Bi-ho, said in a public lecture in Sofia.
His Excellency did not reveal details but said a large Korean company wanted to acquire a Bulgarian energy firm, which is to be privatized.
In addition, another company from South Korea has interest in taking part in the modernization of Bulgaria's electricity network.
At the same time, there is also...
Bulgaria has the potential to become a sort of a "Silicon Valley" of the Black Sea, according to participants in a conference on outsourcing and off-shoring, organized by AmCham, the InvestBulgaria Agency, and Colliers International.
More than 300 international and local delegates attended the first "Realizing the Potential - Bulgaria on the Outsourcing and Off-shoring Map" conference in Sofia, an initiative of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham) and the governmental...
Tishman International Companies and GE Real Estate have introduced new sustainability standards for commercial space in Bulgaria through their major Bulgarian project, Sofia Airport Center (SAC).
Tishman International and GE Real Estate presented Sofia Airport Center at the BalREc conference in Sofia dedicated to real estate and construction investments and sustainable development. Nikola Ignatov, "Properties Management" executive at Tishman International, presented SAC "green advantage" in...
The Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov should not capitulate under Russian pressure, the Bulgarian rightist party DSB (Democrats for Strong Bulgaria) stated in a special declaration.
"We are deeply concerned over the ruling GERB party's retreat with regard to Russia's intention to carry out the Belene Nuclear Power Plant ant the South Stream gas pipeline project.," the declaration says.
According to DSB, the Bulgarian Prime Minister's recent retreat under Russian pressure is a sign of...
Bulgaria works hard to cover the Schengen Agreement criteria and join the zone March 2011, Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov stated.
Thus, he answered France's Minister for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche who recently announced that France will make sure that the EU decision on the Bulgarian and Romanian entry in the Schengen Agreement is not made before the summer.
"The expansion of the Schengen Zone should not be an automatic result from the process of technical evaluation...
The outsourcing market in Bulgaria is currently estimated at EUR 100 M to EUR 150 M a year, but has the potential to go up over 10 times, according to Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov.
Traikov spoke Thursday during a conference titled "Bulgaria on the World Outsourcing and Offshore Map," at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Sofia. The event was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Investment Agency and Colliers International, gathering over 300...
Sofia is the capital with the biggest drop of real estate prices in Central and Eastern Europe for 2009, according to analysis of the consultant company ERA Europe.
Compared to 2008, last year the real estate prices in Sofia dropped by 22%, putting the Bulgarian capital at the top of the list for the region.
According to the analysis, compared to the whole Europe, Sofia ranks third, left behind only by Dublin and Lisbon, which registered a 26% and 24% drop of real estate prices in...
The deal for the sale of several European water supply and treatment businesses from United Utilities, including Bulgaria's Sofijska Voda, to France's Veolia Environnement, has been finalized.
Veolia, the world's biggest listed water company, unveiled the deal, with an enterprise value of about EUR 199 M in June. United Utilities sale of non-regulated businesses included subsidiary United Utilities Australia and investments in the UK, the Philippines, Bulgaria and Poland.
The French...
The unemployment rate in Bulgaria has continued its gradual fall for an eighth consecutive month in October, reaching 8.9%, Labor Minister, Totyu Mladenov has announced.
In the same month, 334 671 was the total number of people registered in employment bureaus, Mladenov clarified. This indicates a drop by 4 300 in comparison to September.
According to the Labor Minister, the 2010 over-the-year unemployment rate will be 9.5%, which is approximately 2% lower than the initially expected...
Bulgaria's gross domestic product is expected to mark a slight increase in the third quarter this year, analysts say days before the statistics institute issues its flash estimate.
"Bulgaria's GDP growth will mark a 0.5% increase on an annual basis in the third quarter," Nikolay Vassilev, CEO and member of the Board of Expat Capital, told the business site investor.bg.
Vladimir Karolev, a managing partner at the Balkan Advisory Company, makes the same forecast, while according to...
Bulgaria's industrial output went up by 9.3% in September 2010 year-on-year, according to the latest data of the National Statistical Institute.
The growth in the extracting industry is 18%, while the processing industry grew by 13%; the production of electricity and gas is down by 3.6%.
Compared with August 2010, the growth of the Bulgarian industry in September 2010 is 1.6%, with the extracting industry growing by 3.1%, the processing industry – by 2.8%, and the production of...
Bulgaria remains one of Europe's biggest recipients of remittances in 2010, according to the latest "Migration and Remittances Factbook" by the World Bank.
Based on the country rankings shown in the report, remittances to Bulgaria are estimated to reach nearly USD 1.6 B for the entire 2010, staying more or less flat over the previous year, when migrants sent home remittances to the order of an estimated 5.3% of GDP .
Remittances from migrant workers are a lifeline to large sections of the...
Bulgaria's wine exports could be increased by boosting the respective image-making efforts, according to Plamen Mollov, a former MP and honorary head of the Bulgarian Food and Drinks Industry Association.
"Bulgaria must boost the image of its wine and decide how to position itself on the world wine market. The international competition is becoming increasingly rigorous which makes it essential that Bulgaria should find a niche," Mollov recommended speaking on the Bulgarian National...
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...
The price of healing ingredients from snails is 26 times higher than the one of rose oil, and has turned snail breeding in Bulgaria into a profitable business.
The information was reported Monday by Simona Mollova, Chief Consultant with the Bulgarian National Snail Breeding Cluster (NOK).
The value of these ingredients, which can be found in snail slime, is EUR 130 per gram while the maximum price ever reached for Bulgarian rose oil on global markets has been EUR 5 000 per...
Bulgaria will continue in a course of gradual raise in the excise of raw cut tobacco with state budget 2011, which previews a rate of BGN 130 per kg.
This was revealed by ruling GERB party MP Dimitar Glavchev, who said that the Parliamentary Budget Committee has fully consulted all stakeholders in tobacco production when determining the rate at which the excise will be increasing.
The decision reached was to raise the excise with 20% and then to continue raising it symmetrically with the...
Bulgarian Economy Minister Traikov will head a delegation to Austria for talks with leading Austrian companies and participation in the 7th edition of the Vienna Economic Forum.
In Vienna, Traikov will accompanied by the head of the InvestBulgaria Agency Borislav Stefanov and other senior officials, the Bulgarian Economy Ministry announced.
The 7th edition of the Vienna Economic Forum will take place on November 7-8 in the Austrian capital, and will bring together participants such as the...
The Bulgarian government will grant BGN 16 M from the 2011 budget for the construction of a small section of the traditionally neglected Hemus Highway, the only highway project for Northern Bulgaria.
The new 10-km section of Hemus will go from the city of Shumen in western direction toward Sofia to the village of Belokopitovo, Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov announced in the northeastern city of Shumen on Saturday.
Djankov revealed that the Regional Development Ministry has...
UK urban design and architecture company Stephen George International will open an office in Bulgaria's Sofia, which will serve as its center for the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
The opening of the Sofia office of the SGI company was announced at a presentation with the participation of the UK Ambassador to Bulgaria, Steve Williams.
"Bulgaria has a lot to offer in architectural terms: unique architectural heritage, space and diversity of the terrain and a climate which many countries could...
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