The Bulgarian government has signed a consulting contract with UK-based company HSBC for the financial analysis for the project for the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant.
Bulgaria's Cabinet and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in particular have made it clear that the results from HSBC's financial appraisal of the Belene project, i.e. whether it is economically feasible, will be decisive with respect to the government's final decision on whether to go ahead with the project whose...
In the period January - February 2011, Bulgaria's exports to non-EU countries increased by 65.5% year on year and amounted to BGN 2.4 B.
The data was released by the National Statistics Institute Monday.
Bulgaria's main trade partners outside the EU in this period were Turkey, Russia, Serbia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, South Africa and China, that formed 54.5% of the total exports to non-EU countries.
The exports to South Africa, India, Croatia and Turkey increased...
German Ambassador to Sofia, Matthias Hopfner, voiced Monday strong optimism about the number of his fellow countrymen visiting Bulgaria for vacation and leisure.
"I believe the number of German tourists to come to Bulgaria is going to go up this year because your infrastructure is developing and improving," Hopfner told the Varna Region Governor, Dancho Simeonov, and the Varna Mayor, Kiril Yordanov, during meetings with them in the Black Sea capital.
The Ambassador informed over half...
Bulgaria's economy will grow 3% in 2011, according to the biennial World Economic Outlook report released by the International Monetary Fund Monday.
Thus, the IMF forecast for the Bulgarian economy in 2011 is below the 3.6% growth projected by the Bulgarian government in its 2011 budget.
The Fund has actually upgraded its 2011 economic growth project for Bulgaria, which used to be at 2.6%. IMF data also shows that in 2010 the Bulgarian economy grew by 0.2%.
The IMF expectations for the...
Bulgaria's exports to the rest of the EU increased by 71,4% year on year in January 2011 reaching the amount of BGN 1,8 B.
The data was released by the National Statistics Institute Monday.
The country's main trade partners were Germany, Italy, Greece, Romania and France that formed 68.0% of the total exports to the EU Member states. The most significant growths were observed in the exports to Portugal, Luxembourg and Estonia. The most notable falls were registered in the exports to...
Bulgaria's Business Registry Agency has registered 83% of the wide-circulation dailies "Trud" (Labor) and 24 Chasa (24 Hours) as property of Ognyan Donev and Lyubomir Pavlov.
The remaining 17% are owned by the "BG Printmedia" company managed by Pavlov and Hristo Grozev, the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, informs. 53% of the company are still held by the Vienna-based "BG Privatinvest" GmbH, belonging to Grozev and Austrian Karl Habsburg. The other 47% are owned by the manager of...
Bulgaria's working day adjusted Industrial Production Index rose by 15.2% year on year February 2011, according to preliminary data by the country National Statistical Institute.
On a monthly basis, the Industrial Production Index, seasonally adjusted, decreased by 1.4 in February 2011 as compared to January 2011.
In February 2011, the Bulgarian year on year Industrial Production Index, calculated from working day adjusted data in the manufacturing grew by 22.3%, in the electricity, gas,...
French international hypermarket chain Carrefour has announced plans to open a sixth hypermarket in Bulgaria - in the southern city of Stara Zagora.
Carrefour's first Bulgarian hypermarket was opened in Burgas in 2009, when the brand entered the Bulgarian market for the first time, followed by its stores in Plovdiv, Varna, Sofia, and Ruse in 2010.
The sixth Carrefour store in Bulgaria will be opened in the fall of 2011. It will be located on an area of 5 000 square meters on Nikola Petkov...
Turkey plans to construct a nuclear power plant right on the Bulgarian border in the region of Eastern Thrace, virtually on the Black Sea coast.
The site of what is planned to become the third nuclear power plant in Turkey, with projects for the other two already underway, will be the small Black Sea town of Igneada, a town of some 2 000 inhabitants, located 5 km south of the Rezovska (Rezovo) River, which marks the Bulgarian-Turkish border, according to reports in the Turkish press citing...
The Maritza Iztok Mine in southern Bulgaria has scored 2011 its greatest yield for the first quarter of the year since 1997.
For March 2011 miners at Maritza Iztok excavated some 2.5 M tonnes of coal, while for Q1 the amount is close to 7.5 M tonnes.
The mine is reporting that it is fulfilling its plans for ground excavation, with close to 24 M cubic meters of earth dug up for the first quarter.
The Maritza Iztok Mine, the largest coal mine in Bulgaria, is built upon a deposit of...
Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday it has placed Bulgaria's Baa3 government rating on review for possible upgrade, reflecting its healthy government finances and ongoing improvements in institutional strength.
The outlook had been positive since January 2010.
The move comes thanks to the government's strong balance sheet, a prudent budget reserve and expectations it will bring its deficit below the European Union's 3% limit, Moody's said.
Moody's on Tuesday said a key focus of...
The airport in the Bulgarian capital Sofia is going to be offered on concession, according to Deputy Transport Minister, Kamen Kichev.
The Ministry is still mulling two options – to concession the entire airport or just the construction of the new cargo terminal. The concessioner is to also repay the loan, which was taken for the building of the new terminal.
Kichev admits the preparations to offer Bulgaria's airports, railway stations, and ports have taken quite a while, but points out...
The French energy giant Gas de France Suez considers investing EUR 100 M in Bulgarian biomass plants, the country's Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov announced Monday.
Gas de France considers building 4 biomass energy plants in different Bulgarian cities. Apart from it, Spanish and Bulgarian companies have shown investment interests in the country's biomass energy.
The Balkan country is working on a new law on renewable energy sources, which includes incentives for biomass energy...
Chimimport AD, a Bulgarian holding with over 50 subsidiaries, has registered a record profit for entire history.
Chimimport's 2010 profit amounted to BGN 91.8 M, a 1.5% increase year-on-year, according to company data.
Chimimport, which manages numerous finance, manufacturing, and transport companies – including Bulgaria Air, Central Cooperative Bank, Armeetz insurance company, grain trader Zarneni Hrani – saw its total 2010 revenues at BGN 141.6 M, a 15.6% growth year-on-year.
The...
Bulgaria's largest pharmaceutical company Sopharma has registered its highest profit in 11 years.
In 2010, Sopharma AD had a profit of BGN 40.5 M, according to newly released company data.
Sopharma's 2010 revenues amounted to BGN 238.5 M, which is a 12% increase year-on-year.
30% of Sopharma's sales in 2010 were on Bulgaria's domestic market but the major factor for its revenue growth was its export to foreign markets which grew 19% compared with 2009.
Sopharma's 2010 gross...
UK electric car company Zero Carbon 2020 will produce the first cars from a new assembly line in Bulgaria in the second or third quarter of 2011.
The assembly line will be near the southern city of Stara Zagora and will initially have the capacity of 100 cars; output is planned to expand to some 5,000 units by 2015.
The initial investment is estimated at BGN 6.5 M, and if the market reacts well, it is planned it would reach EUR 10-12 M.
"We are a company offering niche products and...
Candidates applying to buy VMZ Sopot, Bulgaria's largest but troubled military plant, will be eligible to bid for it if they demonstrate they have enough funds to cover its mounting debts.
The evidence of the bidders' assets can be accounting documentation and bank account statements.
Another provision outlined in the strategy for the privatization of VMZ Sopot published Friday in Bulgaria's State Gazette is that the future owner of the plant will not be allowed to lay off workers in the...
Bulgaria's production of natural gas in December 2010 compared to November 2010 increased by 48.1% to 40 million cubic meters, according to the country's National Statistical Institute.
The Bulgarian production of electricity grew by 18.7% to 4 650 GWh in the same period, the institute also revealed.
However, the country's production of solid fuels decreased by 15.5% to 2 752 thousand tonnes, liquefied petroleum gases by 35.7% to 9 thousand tonnes, unleaded motor gasoline by 14.9% to 131...
Bulgaria's capital Sofia will replace 100% of its electric buses (trolley buses) within a year, according to Deputy Mayor in charge of transport Lyubomir Hristov.
This means that the Sofia Municipality will buy 50 new electric buses by 2012, after it already replaced about 1/3 of the trolley buses in use with brand-new ones in the past year.
What is more, Hristov has announced that the municipality is going to build a new tram line going from the downtown to the Darvenitsa Quarter in the...
Bulgaria's only operational nuclear power units in the Kozloduy plant have registered their largest quarterly production of electricity in their history in January-March 2011.
Thus, in the first quarter of 2011, 1000-MW units 5 and 6 produced a total of 4,506,941 MWh of electricity, while obeying all safety rules, the Kozloduy NPP announced.
The 2011 Q1 production is a record for the two units since they were launched in 1988-1993.
Compared with the first quarter of 2010, units 5 and 6...
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