불가리아 주요 경제 뉴스 ( 20 JUNE – 4 JULY 2008 )

BULGARIAN ECONOMIC TOP NEWS DIGEST

REPORT ( 20 JUNE – 4 JULY 2008 )

 

 

Sections/headline briefs:

 

 

MACROECONOMY:

 

·        6,2% economical raise for 2007

·        Bulgaria ranked 44th in Forbes best countries for business

·        Bulgaria expects 2008 sunflower crop up 60% to 830,000 tonnes

·        Bulgaria to export four times more electricity in 2030

·        Bulgaria to jump-start Nabucco gas pipeline agreement

·        Bulgaria to get $ 360 M from Iraqi debt

·        Bulgaria spends Iraqi debt on construction of Trakia Highway

·        External debt reached �31 billion

·        Bulgaria finance minister predicts one-digit inflation in 2008

·        Bulgaria government still abstains from spending budget surplus

·        Bulgaria registers BGN 3.3 B budget surplus

·        Bulgaria ranks second in corruption in EU

·        Bulgarians with lowest purchasing power in EU27

·        Bulgaria Q1 IT market at $270 M

• Only 4% of Bulgarians shop online
• Bulgaria requests domain in Cyrillic alphabet
• LAN operators have 56% of Bulgarian household Internet market
• Bulgaria's Lyulin Highway to be ready in 2010
• Meeting of Vienna economic forum starts in Bulgaria city of Pleven
• Asian goods to reach Sofia, Kosovo through Bulgaria's Danube Port of Svishtov

·        Bulgaria and China to work on 11 new scientific projects

·        Bulgarian airlines to get access to EU skies in late July

·        Bulgaria and Romania tired of reforms

·         Romanians buy out Bulgarian cement

·        Golf playgrounds to variegate the concrete jungle of Bulgaria

·        Bulgarian agrarian industry short of farmhands

·        How did the insurance sector in Bulgaria and CEE develop in 2007?

·        Purchasing power of Bulgarians slides down

INVESTMENTS:

 

·        Foreign Direct Investment in Bulgaria at �1.228 B in January-April

·        �150 M energy park to be built in Karnobat

·        US investors want to build Kozloduy NPP unit 7

·        Biggest Italcementi investment project in Bulgaria kicks off

·        Melrose to invest $ 90 M in natural gas storage facility next year

·        Bulgarian partner of SEAT and Hertz to invest � 15 M in auto center

·        Bulgaria's consortium Energy MK to buy Bobov Dol power plant for �51 M, to invest �35 M

·        Spain's Keros Ceramica plans to complete �24 M plant in Bulgaria

·        ABB invests $20 M in new factory in Bulgaria's Plovdiv

·        Bulgaria's BDZ Transimpex to iInvest minimum �4.1 M in locomotive repair unit

·        Construction of waste water treatment plants launched in Lovech, Sevlievo

·        � 50 M invested in new ski resort in Bulgaria Rhodoppe Mountain

 

 

COMPANIES:

 

·        Bulgaria to get BGN 440 M for Navigation Maritime Bulgaria

·        Lockheed Martin interested in opening space center in Bulgaria's Varna

·        Eight companies bid for underground transport extension in Sofia

·        The Czechs will build a �1 B power unit in Varna

·        Turkey's Turkcell, seven others buy documents for tender for fourth Bulgarian wireless operator

·        Bulgaria construction companies to register in Russia

·        Kuwait's Kharafi Group to enter Bulgarian holiday market

·        Bulgaria lagging behind from European practice of public-private partnership

·         Bulgarian companies to win public procurements for � 2 B

·        Euromoney names Raiffeissen Best Bank in CEE

 

 

ANALYSIS:

 

·        Sleeping beauty Bulgaria awaits EU's kiss to waken from its slumber

 

 

 

 

 

 

Articles:

 

 

MACROECONOMY:

6,2% economical raise for 2007

6, 2% is the economical raise in 2007. Accelerators of the raise have been the investments and the internal demand. The direct foreign investments are record as they reach 6, 1 billion EUR. The fiscal policy during the last year is based over keeping a stable fiscal policy in support of a macro economical stability, motivating the economical activity with debt reforms, the main spheres of public services and realizing of priority investment politics of improving the infrastructure. In 2007, the incomes by the consolidated fiscal program are 42, 6% of GDP. In 2006 this incomes have been 40,6%. The non tax incomes have raised with 15,1% compared to 2006 year. The entering aids, mainly y the EU funds are on the amount of 1 204,2 million BGN (500, 102,1 million EUR).

 

Bulgaria ranked 44th in Forbes best countries for business

Bulgaria advanced 24 positions to 44th in Forbes' third annual ranking of Best Countries for Business, published by the magazine on June 27.Formerly called the Forbes Capital Hospitality Business, the report gauges more that 121 countries against key macroeconomic parameters such as gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, unemployment, inflation, as well as degree of innovations and technological savvy. Forbes also gives marks for degree of personal freedoms.Bulgaria performed worse than neighbouring Romania (40), Turkey (41) or Croatia (42) but fared better than Greece (53) or Ukraine (75).The US, top performer last year, slid three notches down to fourth to relinquish its crown to Denmark. The Scandinavian country excelled with low inflation and low unemployment combined with high innovation and technological savvy marks.The second- and third-ranked countries were Ireland and Finland and the top five was wrapped up by the United Kingdom. Estonia proved the best country among EU newcomers making it to the last position in the top 10.Chad propped up the table, with Zimbabwe and Syria immediately above it.

Bulgaria expects 2008 sunflower crop up 60% to 830,000 tonnes

 

Bulgaria's 2008 sunflower crop is expected to grow by 60% to 830,000 tonnes as prices are expected to remain unchanged, a local daily reported on Friday. Bulgaria's 2007 sunflower crop was 520,000 tonnes, Monitor daily quoted the executive director of the Sofia Commodity Exchange (SCE), Vassil Simov, as saying. Sunflower oil should keep its current price levels," Simov said. He added that sunflower oil prices on the international commodity exchange in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, are now stable after falling earlier. Bulgaria's last year sunflower crop dropped by 54%, and sunflower oil prices surged from 1,280 levs ($1,030/656 euro) per tonne in the beginning of 2007 to 2,300 levs per tonne in December, SCE data showed. The country's farm ministry has said that the rise in sunflower prices on the domestic market was caused not only by the low output but also by a surge in sunflower prices on international markets due to the use of sunflower seeds in biofuel production.

Bulgaria to export four times more electricity in 2030

 

Bulgaria's present electricity exports of 4,5 B kWh might increase four times to reach 18 B kWh in 2030. This becomes clear from the online publication of the report of the Energy and Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov that he presented at the Consultative National Security Council on energy policy last week. The increase in electricity exports in Dimitrov's report is mainly the result of the construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, where two 1000-MW reactors will be built at first.Belene is expected to start producing electricity in 2014-15. The Minister's report points out, however, that in case two more 1000-MW reactors were constructed at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, where currently only two 1000-MW units function, the country's annual electricity exports might even reach 33 B kWh in 2030. Before the closing down of the two 440-MW reactors of the Kozloduy NPP in 2006 Bulgaria reached the record 9 B kWh of electricity exports, which completely met the demand in the region. In 2007 the exports dropped in half - 4,5 B kWh, with 2,3 kWh of electricity transited across Bulgaria from third countries.

 

Bulgaria to jump-start Nabucco gas pipeline agreement

Bulgaria is ready to negotiate with each of the countries involved in the Nabucco gas pipeline to ensure that the intergovernmental agreement for the implementation of the project is hammered out and signed expediently. This view was stated last week by the economy minister Petar Dimitrov in front of the presidential council on national security. According to statements made by the official, the relevant agreement could be signed this fall or by the end of the year. OMV, Bulgargaz, Transgaz, Botas, MOL and RWE each have a 16.5% stake in the Nabucco Gas Pipeline company. The official in charge of co-ordinating the project on behalf of Budapest also backs a speedier signing of the agreement. Both Turkey and Hungary each have drafted their own version of the agreement. Sources said that it is the Turkish proposal that is holding back the talks because Botas has put forth tough oversight conditions and is insisting for preferential gas prices. The shareholders in the project have been negotiating on the initial draft of the agreement, okayed by Brussels, for more than a year now. The Bulgarian ministry said the EU-endorsed version is close to the Hungarian proposal but refused to name the differences. The Turkish demands could be skirted with the help of an alternative pipeline route from Georgia to Bulgaria or from Georgia to the Ukraine, notes a report drafted by Bulgarian deputy prime minister Ivailo Kalfin. The gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Georgia and the Ukraine was recently proposed by the Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Timoshenko. However, Turkmenistan has stated it is not interested in the project. The supplier of the gas that will be pumped in the facility is also yet to be determined. It could come from a number of nations like Azerbaijan, Iraq or Egypt. At the moment, Bulgaria has signed a co-operation protocol with Azerbaijan that will allow the two nations' gas monopolies to start talks on 1 bln cu m annually. The signing of the preliminary agreements with the suppliers will require Washington to step in and wield some of its power over countries like Iraq, for instance. Dimitrov said that the U.S. will join the project indirectly but did not elaborate further.

 

 

Bulgaria to get $ 360 M from Iraqi debt

Bulgaria will receive $US 360 million from Iraq as a payoff of an old debt. The transfer is taking place today and the money will enter the state budget within days. Bulgaria is the first country that managed to take its money back in a single transaction. In the end of 2004, Iraq and its creditors of the Paris Club signed a debt reduction agreement specifying repayment under a special scheme: remission of 80-percent of all debts, prolongation of payment of the remaining 20 percent for 23 years and a grace period of six years. The amount of Iraq's debt to Bulgaria was $US 1.860 billion as back as 2004. However, at the end of 2007 Iraq accepted an actualized liabilities size of $US 3.51 billion, and the Bulgarian government accepted a coefficient of direct payment of the debt of 10,25 cents per US dollar.

Bulgaria spends Iraqi debt on construction of Trakia Highway

Trakia highway will be constructed with the money from the paid Iraqi debt, The Standart learnt. Wednesday morning, Iraq paid its debt to Bulgaria standing at a total of $360 million.Bulgaria is the first state that has reached an agreement on the pay-back of the debt via a single cash payment, sources from the Ministry of Finance announced.
Some $240 million of the funds can be spent on large-scale infrastructure projects and 100 million will be invested in the constriction of Trakia highway.The other variant is that the money from the Iraqi debt are spent on the finalization of the projects under the PHARE program, whose EU financing was frozen.

External debt reached �31 billion

Sofia. External debt of the country reached EUR 31 billion, statistics of the Bulgarian National Bank reveals, the Express Daily reports. Gross external debt of the government reaches EUR 2,69 billion (8,2% of GDP) in the end of April 2008. This is a reduction of EUR 332 million in comparison to the end of 2007. The decrease was registered after acquittals of some liabilities to the World Bank. External liabilities of commercial banks amount to EUR 6,49 billion (19,8% of GDP), which is an increase with EUR 737 million compared to the figures at the end of 2007.

Bulgaria finance minister predicts one-digit inflation in 2008

Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Plamen Oresharski said he was ready to confirm his prognosis for a one-digit inflation rate in the country at the end of 2008. Oresharski did point out, however, that his prediction was conditional on the government's ability to control the growth of salaries, which was a key factor for the rising inflation outside the global factors such as the increase of oil and food prices. The Finance Minister made his prognosis in the northeast city of Shumen, where he met with the Mayor Krasimir Kostov. Oresharski also announced that Bulgaria's budget surplus was about BGN 2,7 B at present but predicted it would not be so great at the end of 2008. The Finance Minister made it clear that the government was not going to lower the value-added tax in 2009. He asked the people who put forth such ideas to suggest which of the other taxes should be increased if the VAT was lowered.

 

Bulgaria government still abstains from spending budget surplus

The Bulgarian Minister of Finance Plamen Oresharski announced Friday in the Parliament that the cabinet had not started to spend the budget surplus yet. Oresharksi pointed out that the budget expenditures were usually higher in the second of the year, and that he was unable to say yet how much the budget surplus would be towards the end of 2008. "In the event the surplus reaches 3% of the GDP, the government will table to the Parliament the investments for which the surplus will be spend", the Minister explained before the MPs.

Bulgaria registers BGN 3.3 B budget surplus

Bulgaria registered a 3.3 billion levs budget surplus end-May, sources from Bulgaria's Ministry of Finance reported. Some 590,5 million levs (1euro=1.95levs) from the budget surplus come from the EU, while the rest 2.7 billion levs are due to revenues outpacing outlays. By the end of May 2008, the revenues in Bulgaria's treasury totalled 11,7 billion levs or 43,2% of the annual plan. The results will have a positive effect on the budget after the reduction of corporate tax and introduction of 10-percent flat income tax.
Some 902,8 million levs coming from the EU funds have entered Bulgaria's budget. Thus after Bulgaria's payments to the EU budget, this country gets 590 million levs as a EU member. Some 8.4 billion levs have been spent that accounts for 33,3% of the annual plan.

Bulgaria ranks second in corruption in EU

Bulgaria is the second most corrupt country in Europe shows the global corruption report of Transparency International. Rumania tops the list and Poland comes close after Bulgaria. In 1998, when Bulgaria for the first time was included in the ranking list, its corruption perception index was 2,9, while now it is 4,1. The highest grade for zero corruption is 10. Among the EU member states Greece leads with 4,6. Italy, Germany, France and Cypress are in the middle of the European list. Denmark and Finland receive 9,4 points with 10 being the maximum index for a corruption-free country and have the highest grade among the countries from the Old Continent. Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands and Switzerland score 9 points each.The most corrupt countries in the world are China, India and Russia.

Bulgarians with lowest purchasing power in EU27

Based on first preliminary estimates for 2007, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per inhabitant expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 38% to 276% of the average across the EU27 Member States. GDP per inhabitant was around the EU27 average in 2007 in Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany and France were between 10% and 30% above the average, while the highest levels of GDP per inhabitant in the EU were registered in Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands. Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Malta, Portugal and Estonia were between 10% and 30% lower than the EU27 average. Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland were between 30% and 50% lower, while both Romania and Bulgaria were about 60 percent below the EU27 average. These figures for GDP per inhabitant, expressed in PPS, are published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. They cover the 27 EU Member States, the three candidate countries, three EFTA countries and two Western Balkan countries. The PPS is an artificial reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries. Thus one PPS buys the same volume of goods and services in all countries. This unit allows meaningful volume comparisons of economic indicators across countries.

Bulgaria Q1 IT market at $270 M

The Bulgarian market for information and communication technologies (ICT) reached $269 mln in the first quarter of 2008, up 17% year-on-year, shows data of market research outfit CBN. The CBN figure includes local sales of PC and telecom hardware, mobile phones and base stations. Three product groups - laptops, cell phones and LCD monitors, generate half of the sales and almost all the growth momentum. Hard-disks, multi-media projectors and power supply devices are also among the sales buzz products. CBN reported a decline in Q1 sales of brand-name PCs, keyboards, optical and printing devices and fax machines. Data of IDC, another market research company, shows that the Bulgarian ICT market topped $873.25 mln in 2007. The upside was largely due to the hefty 66% jump in laptop sales. Desk-top PCs will retain their best-selling momentum but their share of sales in terms of value is forecast to shrink from 615 in 2007 to 54% in 2008. In terms of volume, laptops accounted for 46.6% of the 2007 market with desk-top PCs falling to 50.1% and servers at 1.4%.

Only 4% of Bulgarians shop online

Only 4% of Bulgarians have made a purchase online in their home country in the past 12 months, Eurobarometer (EB) says in its e-commerce survey of consumers in the 27 EU member states. According to EB 298, 33% of consumers in the EU27 have purchased goods or services via the internet in the last 12 months, either in their home country or elsewhere (up from 27% in 2006, EU25). There is a significant variation in this figure at country level: 68% of individuals in the Netherlands have made an online purchase in the past 12 months. 30% of EU consumers have made such a purchase from a retailer in their own country, while 7% have made an online purchase from a seller or provider in another EU country.

Bulgaria requests domain in Cyrillic alphabet

In what is the first request of this kind within the European Union, Bulgaria requested a domain name in Cyrillic, Bulgaria's State Agency for Information Technology and Communication (SAITC) said in a statement on June 23. In particular, Bulgaria wants to register and maintain a country code in Cyrillic, ending in ".бг". The news comes a year after the agency forecast that Cyrillic would be put to Internet use by 2010 following a Bulgarian-Korean project, which set out a year ago. The letter, carrying the signature of SAITC head Plamen Vachkov, was handed in to the president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Paul Twomey. A decision to this effect is expected on June 26, when ICANN officials will be considering at a Paris-hosted conference the creation of first-level multilingual domains. In related news, this autumn SAITC will invite to Sofia all countries using the Cyrillic alphabet, namely Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Participants are expected to consider internet names allocation across countries using the Cyrillic alphabet.

 

LAN operators have 56% of Bulgarian household Internet market

LAN operators control 56% of the household Internet market in Bulgaria, shows data released by the nation's telecom regulator. A total of 468 LAN operators have supplied the Communications Regulation Commission with information on their business in 2007. only 423 were active on the market that year. According to the data notified to the CRC, they pipe Internet to a total of 347,000 households. The LAN market, estimated at 100 mln levs annually, accommodates a significant number of unregistered LAN operators. Data of local ISP SpectrumNet, between 5% and 7% of its peers do not report their business or customer figures. ICT Cluster, the organisation of the Bulgarian information and communication technology business, has released data that is generally in line with the CRC figures. ICT Cluster said LAN operators have 50% of broadband Internet households with a total of 320,000 subscribers. Another 162,000 households have gone broadband courtesy of BTC while the cable operators provide high-speed Internet to 91,000 households. The underdeveloped North-western Bulgaria areas have the lowest Internet penetration rate. Sofia is the most hotly contested market with a total of 120 Internet networks.

Bulgaria's Lyulin Highway to be ready in 2010

 

Representatives of the Turkish company MAPA-CENGIZ, which is building the Lyulin Highway, announced that the project would be completed in 2010, the Bulgarian newspaper Trud Daily reported. The Deputy Director of the construction company Dzhomhur Barush met Tuesday with the Governor of the Pernik District Ivan Dimitrov and the head of the regional road agency Tano Georgiev.Barush announced that 100 more workers would arrive from Turkey soon in order to accelerate the construction works on the Lyulin Highway. He also said that all the necessary equipment for the completion of the project is already in place.450 workers are already working on the construction site. They have laid the foundations of four bridges.The Lyulin Highway will connect Bulgaria's capital Sofia to the Daskalovo Road Junction outside of the city of Pernik. It will be long 19 km, including 6 km of bridges and 2 km of tunnels because of the mountainous terrain.The highway will cost a total of EUR 148,5 M. EUR 111,4 M of these are provided by the EU through the ISPA program.The Lyulin Highway is part of the E 79 international road and of the European Transport Corridors IV and VIII.

 

Meeting of Vienna economic forum starts in Bulgaria city of Pleven

 

Representatives of over twenty Austrian companies and mayors of thirty Bulgarian municipalities attended Monday the meeting of the Vienna Economic Forum, which took place in the northern Bulgarian city of Pleven.The main topics of the event are the problems of transport, infrastructure, waste management, and water supply of Bulgarian municipalities.The President of the Vienna Economic Forum Erhard Busek is also present at the meeting in Pleven. "We are glad that Bulgaria is a member of the EU since 2007. This means not only many obligations but also many opportunities", Busek said adding that the aim of the forum was make constructive proposals for improving the absorption of EU funds. He pointed out that the Vienna Economic Forum provided the opportunity to use the experience of many partners in order to improve the local situation.The meeting in Pleven is part of the events marking the fifth year since the founding of the Vienna Economic Forum. Pleven has been selected to host it because it presented a number of problems typical for both large cities and small towns, the Secretary-General of the Forum Elena Kircheva explained.The Vienna Economic Forum aims to promote the economic cooperation between the countries from the Adriatic to the Black Sea - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey from its Headquarters in Vienna.

 

Asian goods to reach Sofia, Kosovo through Bulgaria's Danube Port of Svishtov

 

A large share of goods from China destined for Bulgaria's capital Sofia as well as for the newly independent Republic of Kosovo are to go through the Bulgarian Danube Port of Svishtov. This became possible after the facilities for the unloading of heavy-freight 40-feet containers were delivered to the International Port of Svishtov last week, the official websites of the port and of the Svishtov Municipality announced.This investment is going to allow the processing of containers of all varieties, thus removing the major obstacle before the container trade at the Bulgarian Danube town. With the investment in the new port facilities, Svishtov will be come a serious competitor to the Bulgarian Black Sea Port of Varna, but especially to the Greek port of Thessaloniki.Currently about two thirds of all container goods made in China and other Asian countries destined for the Bulgarian capital Sofia go through Thessaloniki. However, with the new container facilities and the shorter distance it would be more profitable to transport goods to Sofia and Central Bulgaria through Svishtov. The Danube port town is also hoping to become a transportation center for the international of the Republic of Kosovo, Macedonia, and other states from the former Yugoslavia. A delegation of Kosovo businessmen just visited Svishtov on June 19 and 20 in order to familiarize itself with the transportation opportunities offered by the facilities of the port. According to the press service of the Port of Svishtov, the Kosovo representatives had confirmed their interest in developing a new trade route going through the Romanian Black Sea Port of Constanta to the Bulgarian Danube Port of Svishtov, and then to Kosovo through land transport. This is supposed to be a cheaper route for goods from Asia and the former Soviet states destined for the new republic than the one going through the Greek Port of Thessaloniki. The new Balkan state has no international waterway, and the Bulgarian Port of Svishtov, which is located at the southernmost point of the Danube River, is especially suitable for its container imports.

Bulgaria and China to work on 11 new scientific projects

Bulgaria and China will work on eleven new scientific projects in various fields from 2009 to 2010, Bulgaria's Deputy Education and Science Minister Vanya Dobreva said on Tuesday, signing a protocol of the twelfth session of the Bulgarian-Chinese Commission for Scientific and Technological Cooperation. on behalf of China, the protocol was signed by Cao Jianlin, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, BTA reports. The new projects are in the field of agriculture (farming machinery), nanotechnology, biotechnology, physics, environmental protection and chemistry. All projects will produce direct results for the economies of the two countries, Dobreva said. According to her, Bulgaria and China have similar problems in agriculture, foods and environmental protection. Cao said Bulgaria should take pride in its rose oil, farming machinery and wines. He conferred with members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and they concurred that there is a large potential for cooperation in computer technology.The previous, eleventh, session of the Bulgarian-Chinese Commission for Scientific and Technological Cooperation approved seven joint projects which were implemented successfully, Dobreva recalled.

 

Bulgarian airlines to get access to EU skies in late July

 

Bulgarian airline companies will be allowed to perform flights within the EU as of late July 2008, the head of Directorate General for Civil Aviation Administration Zahari Alexiev believes. He explains this is the real period of time necessary for Brussels to have its say on the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) report.
The latest EASA inquiry concluded that Bulgarian authorities had fixed all wrongs that had led to the imposition of a safeguard clause on our aviation back in late 2006.
Initial forecasts pointed at September as a possible safeguard clause cancellation, but the latest talks with the European Commission give us the hope that this can well happen a month earlier, Zahari Alexiev says.

Bulgaria and Romania tired of reforms

Bulgaria and Romania are tired of reforms, is written in the report of the US ‘Freedom House' Agency. According to the report Bulgaria takes the 9^th position in democracy among 29 countries of East Europe and Central Asia. The report points out the constantly increasing of differences in the state of democracy in the Central Europe countries and the former USSR countries. There is also observed ‘exhaustion of reforms' on the Balkans, and more specific in Bulgaria and Romania. Bulgaria haven't match improvement compared to previous years, the organization's experts criticize. The inquiry matches insufficient success in the fight against corruption in Bulgaria, and only against its low levels. The report also points out the lack of improvement in connection with the dependence of Bulgarian media of direct economical and indirect political interests.The lack of transparency about the media's ownership is pointed as big problem because it do not guarantee the economical and political independence. The contents of the most printed and electronic media is mostly commercial which contributes additionally for the audience's lost of interest in politics, the report also shows. The document also concerns about the theme of buying votes on elections. Local business interests are trying with all means to control the local authorities and the local process of decisions taking and this leads to buying votes on local elections and threatens the democracy in the country, the US agency report says.

 

Romanians buy out Bulgarian cement

 

More and more Romanians are constructing and repairing their apartments with Bulgarian-made cement as the demand for it on the northern side of the Danube River has increased tremendously over the recent weeks. Each day ten trucks loaded with cement leave the Bulgarian city of Ruse for Romania. A 50-kg bag of cement costs BGN 10-12, whereas its price in Romania in about BGN 50. Cement turns out to be last hit among the thousands of Romanian merchants and citizens shopping for goods in Bulgaria after their demand initially concentrated on groceries, clothes, and shoes.

 

 

Golf playgrounds to variegate the concrete jungle of Bulgaria

The mushrooming golf clubs throughout Bulgaria come as an alternative to the concrete sins on the Bulgarian Black sea cost. This is the conclusion of the German DPA Agency, which made its own examination on the theme. The new golf club in Ravno Pole village, located on 25 kilometers from Bulgarian capital Sofia is presently turning into regular destination for the tourists, looking for tranquility. The golf club is visited by more and more Sofia citizens, diplomats and foreign contractors. According to the DPA Agency the golf clubs with luxurious hotels and modern SPA - facilities will improve the tourism image of Bulgaria, associated in Europe mainly with the cheap Black Sea vacation. There are still 19 golf playgrounds more presently being built, one of which estimated on the amount of 50 million EUR - the future Golf & SPA complex in Pravets town, the birth town of former communist President of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov. Specialists consider the strong investment interest will bring the construction of round 40 golf playgrounds in the country. The Bulgarian government also approves the intentions Bulgaria to be turned into international destination for golf tourism. There are excellent climate conditions in Bulgaria and the scenery is extremely attractive. The engaged with the gold tourism investors are trying to escape from the upper-scale image of the game and try to present it as an excellent mean against modern pressure.   After the construction boom on the sea coast, the upcoming summer will show is still the tourism in Bulgaria capable to escape the sins of concrete and to return to nature, the specialized tourism editions comment. World - wide famous Black sea coasts and ski resorts in Southern Bulgaria have attracted more than 5 million tourists in common for the last 2007 year. The amount of tourists from EU have raised with 50 %. Incomes of tourism for Bulgaria have reached the record to the moment 2, 3 billion EUR - raise of 11% compared to the previous year. The State Agency of Tourism expects 10% raise for 2008 too.

Bulgarian agrarian industry short of farmhands

The farming industry is the latest sector of the Bulgarian economy to be faced with a workforce shortage. In demand are not only skilled professionals but also tractor drivers as many of them opt to seek better pay abroad. The 97 high-schools and technical collages with agrarian science training programs across the country produce some 6,500 graduates each year but a lot of them migrate to Western Europe. France now looks set to suction Bulgarian workers early than expected after that nation's migration minister Tuesday told reporters that the country may open its labor market for Bulgarians and Romanians ahead of the December 30, 2012 deadline. The EU unemployment data released yesterday showed the jobless rate in Bulgaria at 6.1% versus 6.7% for the EU27 and 7.4% to 9.4% for economies like the French, German and Spanish which are not yet accepting documented Bulgarian workers. The negative labor trends have prompted the local business to seek the government's assistance in facilitating the import of non-EU workers. At a meeting with interior minister Mihail Mikov, representatives of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria asked that the government ease the procedure for the issue of work permits to non-residents and slash the charges for hiring non-resident workers.

 

 

How did the insurance sector in Bulgaria and CEE develop in 2007?

Insurance premiums in Bulgaria went up 11.9% last year to 1.52 billion leva (777 mln euros), compared with 1.25 billion leva (639 mln euros) a year ago, research conducted by Swiss Re reveals. The hike is smaller than the one seen in Latvia (37.9%), Lithuania (28.2%), Russia (16.6%) and Romania (17.7%). In US Dollar terms, Bulgaria ranks 61st in the world in terms of premium size in the sector and 29th among the European countries surveyed. Life insurance premiums in the country rose 19.1% in real terms to 228,000 leva, which is still a relatively small share. The hike in general insurance premiums is even smaller (10.7%), the report shows. Average insurance sum per capita in Bulgaria stood at 139.3 dollars. Romania is behind Bulgaria on this list with an average of 135.2 dollars per capita. As a whole, countries in CEE saw a significant growth in the sector, the report also concludes. Insurance premiums in the region are up 12.9% last year to a total of 74.37 billion dollars. In 2006 those rose by 11.8%. Countries in the CEE region account for 1.8% of the global insurance sector. Life insurance in CEE rose by 17% last year, which is slightly slower than the 19% growth in 2006. Last year insurance premiums globally rose by 3.3% to 4.06 billion dollars. More than 50% of this amount, or some 2.39 billion dollars, was generated on the life insurance segment.

Purchasing power of Bulgarians slides down

The yearly income of an average Bulgarian suffices to buy 100 pairs of lady's shoes, 26 men's suits and 10 TV sets, data by the National Statistical Institute show.
Despite the economic growth Bulgaria scored in 2007, its nowadays living standards still lag far behind those of its totalitarian past. In the period 2001-2007, household income rate has increased by 85.7 percent averagely. However, if we subtract the 52.4-percent inflation accumulated over this period, we get an actual total income increase of 38.2 percent, which is, nonetheless, still too modest to match the purchasing power of the communist-day Bulgarians, NSI calculations revealed. The weakened purchasing power of the Bulgarians is to a certain extent compensated by the fact that most Bulgarians have private land plots and make preserves.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INVESTMENTS:

 

Foreign Direct Investment in Bulgaria at �1.228 B in January-April

According to preliminary data, the Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria for January – April 2008 amounted to EUR 1228.2 million (3.7% of GDP) compared to EUR 1437.6 million (5% of GDP) attracted in January – April 2007, data of the Bulgarian National bank (BNB) show. The attracted equity capital (acquisition/disposal of shares and equities in cash and contributions in kind by non-residents in/from the capital and reserves of Bulgarian enterprises and receipts/payments from/for real estate deals in the country) for January – April 2008 amounted to EUR 709.9 million, which was 57.8% of the foreign direct investment.It decreased by EUR 95.2 million compared to that attracted in the same period of 2007 (EUR 805.1 million). The receipts from real estate investments of non-residents amounted to EUR 471.2 million compared to EUR 507.3 million for January – April 2007.The attracted equity capital on privatization deals with non-residents (that have acquired over 10% of the equity in a Bulgarian enterprise) reported in January – April 2008 did not increase, compared to an increase of EUR 1.4 million in January – April 2007. The attracted equity capital on non-privatisation deals totalled EUR 709.9 million in the reporting period, compared to EUR 803.8 million for the same period in 2007.The other capital, net (the change in the net liabilities of the direct investment enterprise to the direct investor on financial loans, suppliers’ credits and debt securities) was positive, amounting to EUR 361.9 million in January – April 2008, compared to a net other capital, amounting to EUR 522.7 million in the same period of 2007. The reinvested earnings (the share of non-residents in the undistributed earnings/ loss of the enterprise) in January – April 2008 are estimated at EUR 156.5 million compared to EUR 109.7 million in the same period of the previous year, preliminary data show. By country, the largest investments in Bulgaria for the reporting period were those of Greece (12.7% of the total foreign direct investment), Luxembourg (12%) and the Netherlands (10.2%). Direct investment abroad increased by EUR 407.6 million in the period January – April 2008 compared to an increase of EUR 34.7 million in January – April 2007, preliminary data show. The invested equity capital abroad in 2008 amounted to EUR 404.4 million, compared to EUR 56.4 million in January – April 2007.

 

�150 M energy park to be built in Karnobat

Karnobat will host a 150 million euro hi-tech park for alternative energy resources, Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted town mayor Georgi Dimitrov as saying on June 23.A procedure on giving a land plot in municipal ownership on concession has already started. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.The park will comprise a wind generator park and photovoltaic park. By year-end, the procedure is expected to be completed. The concession is expected to last 35 years. The project is expected to give 250 jobs, of which 60 individuals would be full-time.Negotiations between investors and the NEC, as well as EVN are at an advanced stage so as to ensure sale of the electricity market, the municipal councillors decided.

 

US investors want to build Kozloduy NPP unit 7

A US company is willing to build a new unit at Bulgaria's Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Energy Petar Dimitrov confirmed this yesterday on Darik Radio. He added that an analysis of the possibility to build substitute reactors is being prepared, as there is an already developed infrastructure network in Kozloduy. By Dimitrov's words, such a project could indeed be launched as nuclear power generation is currently living through a period of a global scale 'renaissance.' "There are 27 projects for building nuclear power facilities waiting to be implemented in the US within the next few years," the minister said.

Biggest Italcementi investment project in Bulgaria kicks off       

Devnya Cement AD, the local cement mill owned by Italy's Italcementi Group, said it has started its biggest investment project in Bulgaria. The company is pumping over 500 mln levs in a new cement and clinker line due for completion in 2010. The project, which represents one of the biggest industrial investments in the past 20 years, has earned Devnya Cement a top investor certificate. The replacement of the furnaces for wet and dry cement production will enable the company to cut substantially operating costs, especially its fuel bills. The project will also increase output capacity from 2.5 mln tons to 3 mln tons cement and Maestro dry mortar mixes. The new installation, designed to utilise the heat from the incineration of household waste, will make the plant the most contemporary facility of its type in Europe. Italcementi controls 40% of Bulgaria's domestic cement market and over 90% of the nation's cement exports.

Melrose to invest $ 90 M in natural gas storage facility next year

 

The UK company Melrose Resources announced plans to invest USD 90mn to convert the natural gas field in Galata, located on the Norhtern Black Sea coast, into a natural gas storage facility next year. The state natural gas utility Bulgargaz may also take part in the project. The expected capacity of the storage facility stands at 1.7bn cubic metres of gas. Local authorities support the project as it will increase the security of natural gas supplies. Melrose signed a 25-year concession contract to extract gas from a deposit in the Galata field in 2001. The company expects to extract 100mn cubic metres of natural gas from the said deposit by the end of the year, which will fully deplete it. The government issued a 3-year permit to Melrose in December to search for natural gas and oil on 1,910 sq km of the Black Sea and the company vows to invest USD 120mn.  Melrose announced at the beginning of this year that it has found new high quality natural gas deposit in Galata region with an initially estimated capacity of 200mn cubic metres of gas; side-branches may contain additional 1.14bn cubic metres. Melrose covered 10% to 15% of local demand last year while all other supplies come from Russia .

Bulgarian partner of SEAT and Hertz to invest � 15 M in auto center

The company Autotechnica Ltd, which is the exclusive importer of SEAT and a franchise partner of Hertz Rent-a-Car announced that it was going to invest EUR 15 M in a new service and commercial center. According to Antonios Halbes, who is in charge of international business development in Autohellas, of which Autotechnica is a subsidiary, the center will be located on the Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd, and will have an area of 24 000 square meters.The new complex will host the showrooms of SEAT for new and second-hand cars, and the offices of Hertz, as well as a company service, a spare parts store, a center for after-sale services, and a training center. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. It is part of Autohellas's business development strategy for Bulgaria. The company has representatives in seven Bulgarian cities - Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Ruse, Veliko Turnovo, and Pleven.

Bulgaria's consortium Energy MK to buy Bobov Dol power plant for �51 M, to invest �35 M

 

Bulgaria's Consortium Energy MK will buy 100% of the country's 630-megawatt thermal power plant Bobov Dol for the call price of 100 million levs ($79.8 million/51 million euro) and will invest 35 million euro in it in the next five years, the country's Privatisation Agency said on Thursday. The buyer is obliged to buy no less than 1.75 million tonnes of Bulgarian coal annually by the end of 2011 and to invest in environment protection projects, the agency said in a statement. The deal is pending approval by the Privatisation Agency's supervisory board to take effect. Three foreign and two Bulgarian companies expressed interest in the tender but just two took part in it. The other bidder, Bulgaria's Mining Company, was disqualified because of document irregularities. Bulgarian businessman Hristo Kovachki who has interests in the energy, tourism, banking and insurance sectors, is behind both bidders, his press relations officer Desi Filipova told SeeNews. In March, the agency called a new tender for Bobov Dol after the first attempt to sell it failed last year. In May the asset-selling body cancelled a procedure for the sale of Bobov Dol to Greece's Public Power Corp (PPC) after the Greek buyer refused to sign the sale agreement. Bulgaria picked PPC as buyer of the power plant for 105.3 million euro in cash and a capital hike in 2005 but the deal fell through. The key controversies that hindered the conclusion of the deal back then were the permit Bulgaria's Environmental Ministry had to issue to set the level of harmful gas emissions of the plant and the condition that the new owner had to buy coal from the nearby mine, the agency's head Todor Nikolov told SeeNews last year.

Spain's Keros Ceramica plans to complete �24 M plant in Bulgaria

 

Spanish wall and floor tiles producer Keros Ceramica plans to complete the construction of a 24 million euro ($37 million) production unit in Bulgaria by the end of this year, an official from the company's partner bank in Bulgaria said on Monday. "The investment totals 24 million euro [...] The plant is expected to start operating at the end of the year," Bojidar Giurov, a public relation officer at Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, told SeeNews.The plant, located in the Danube city of Ruse, is expected to produce 9,000 square metres (sq. m.) of tiles daily, he added. Bulgaria's government agency InvestBulgaria said two years ago the plant should start operating by the end of 2006. Company officials were not immediately available to comment on the reasons for the delay. The facility in Ruse will be the producer's first plant outside Spain. Keros Ceramica (www.keros.com), set up in 1994 and based near the city of Valencia, has a daily output of 15,000 sq. m. of tiles. The company sells 60% of its products in more than 80 countries worldwide. It has one distribution warehouse each in Greece and in Hungary.

 

 

 

ABB invests $20 M in new factory in Bulgaria's Plovdiv

 

The Swedish-Swiss-German concern ABB is investing USD 20 M in the construction of a new factory for low voltage automation and power products located in the Rakovski Industrial Zone close to the city of Plovdiv. The ABB Manager for Central and Eastern Europe Peter Smiths, who turned the first sod of the new factory on Tuesday, announced that the plant was expended to start work on March 20, 2009, and to employ 500 persons. He said also that this would be ABB's third factory in Bulgaria in addition to the other two located in the town of Sevlievo, and the town of Petrich. The new plant will be located on a plot of 20 000 square meters. All of the production of the new factory will be exported. The plant will be constructed by the Plovdiv company Sienit Single Person Ltd, which is one of the co-owners of the Rakovski Industrial Zone. Some 50 to 80 workers will be employed for the construction.The ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) is a multinational corporation based in Zurich, Switzerland, and specializing in the production of power and automation technology. It is one of the largest engineering companies, and conglomerates in the world.

Bulgaria's BDZ Transimpex to iInvest minimum �4.1 M in locomotive repair unit

 

Bulgarian locomotive and wagon repairer BDZ Transimpex plans to invest at least 8.0 million levs ($6.4 million/4.1 million euro) in renovating its locomotives plant by 2009, the company's executive director said on Tuesday.It will be minimum 8.0 million levs for the renovation of the plant, calculated in prices at end-2007," Veselin Vasilev told SeeNews on the sidelines of a news conference. Vasilev said the renovated plant, to be operational in 2009, will repair some 10 to 12 locomotives of state railway operator BDZ per year. BDZ needs to repair 136 of its locomotives, he said and added more repairs to the same locomotives would be needed in ten years.BDZ Transimpex is 35:65 owned by BDZ and local trading-to-tourism company Transimpex. Bulgaria's Railroad Infrastructure Holding Company mulls merging BDZ Transimpex into the group in 2009, Orlin Hadjiyankov, deputy chair of Railroad Infrastructure's supervisory board, told a news conference.According to Bulgarian media reports, Transimpex is controlled by local gambling tycoon Vassil Bozhkov. Bozhkov owns 80% of Railroad Infrastructure and Hadjiyankov holds the remainder.Railroad Infrastructure will launch on Wednesday a 27.9 million levs initial public offering on the Sofia stock exchange. It will use the proceeds to finance its 65 million lev investment plan for upgrade of its facilities up to 2014.

Construction of waste water treatment plants launched in Lovech, Sevlievo

Environment and Water Minister Djevdet Chakurov attended on Tuesday the ground-breaking ceremonies for the construction of waste water treatment plants in Lovech and Sevlievo (both in Northern Bulgaria), BTA reported. The Lovech plant is worth 9.443 million euro and the Sevlievo plant 13,987,623 euro. Seventy five per cent of the funds have been provided under the ISPA program, while the remaining 25 per cent have been supplied by the Bulgarian Government, Chakurov said. The waste water treatment plant in Lovech will serve the population of Lovech of about 51,400 by 2022. The protection of the Osum river and the Danube river waters will be improved. The Sevlievo plant will serve about 53,000 and will contribute to the cleanness of the Rossitsa river as one of the Danube's tributaries. Turkish-German consortium Sistem Yapi Insaat ve Ticaret will construct the plant in Lovech, and Austrian Alpine Bau the one in Sevlievo. The construction supervision over both projects is carried out by French-Bulgarian consortium Safege-Aquains. Both plants should be ready in 2009. Besides in Lovech and Sevlievo, waste water treatment plants are also constructed in Montana, Turgovishte and Popovo (all in Northern Bulgaria) and in Meden Roudnik borough of Bourgas (on Black Sea). The Environment Ministry has reached an agreement with the European Commission not to suspend the ISPA money for these projects, the Environment Minister said. Over 70 municipalities across the country of a population of over 10,000 each have to submit by end-July to the Environment and Water Ministry their projects for construction of waste water treatment plants, Chakurov also said. According to him, the financial resource for investment under the various European programmes stands at 1,400 million euro. Over 360 projects of municipalities for funding projects under the Waters and Waste sections of the Environment Operational Program have been submitted to the Environment Ministry and every fifth municipality is ready to launch a public procurement procedure for its project, the minister also said.

 

� 50 M invested in new ski resort in Bulgaria Rhodoppe Mountain

 

A new ski resort for over EUR 50 M will be built close to the town of Chepelare in Bulgaria's Rhodoppe Mountain.The new Mechi Chal resort will serve to turn the small mountain town in an international center for winters sports and mountain tourism.Its name Mechi Chal comes from the name of the Chala area, where the complex will be located.The construction of the new complex will take place in three phases over the next five years. The first phase will be completed by the end of 2008, and includes the renovation of an existing ski lift, the construction of a new, 2,7-km long lift, and of a new 3,5-km long ski track with facilities for artificial snow.The second phase of the project will be completed in 2009-2011. It provides for the construction of a sports center in the town of Chepelare, and another 3-km long lift.The third phase includes the opening of summer vacation facilities and a resort village."This is one of the first projects in the country, which will be realized through an equal partnership between the Chepelare Municipality and the business investors", the Chepelare Mayor Georgi Popov.The first sod of the new resort will be turned on Saturday during a formal ceremony, which will be attended by the Deputy PM Meglena Plugchieva, the Minister of Culture Stefan Danailov, the Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov, and the Director of the State Forestry Agency Stefan Yurukov.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COMPANIES:

 

Bulgaria to get BGN 440 M for Navigation Maritime Bulgaria

The supervisory board with Bulgaria's Privatization Agency, gave their approval for sale of 70 percent of the assets of Navigation Maritime Bulgaria (NMB) to the German-Bulgarian consortium KG Maritime Shipping SA. Seventy percent of the buyer's stake belongs to the German IQ Martrade Holding. Holder of the remaining thirty is the Bulgarian Advance Properties. It was on June 17 that both parties sealed the sale agreement. The last stage of the denationalisation procedure for NMB requires approbation of the deal by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers, which will most likely be granted by the end of July. The government's consent will immediately bind KG Maritime Shipping to pay Bulgaria 440.1 million levs (1 euro = 1.95 levs). KG have made a promise to pour 779.8 million levs of investments into their acquisition, which they must fulfill by 2017.          

 

Lockheed Martin interested in opening space center in Bulgaria's Varna

 

The US "Lockheed Martin", manufacturer of the most widely used fighter planes in the World, the F-16 is interested in the creation of a space center in Varna, according to a statement for the media made by Ivan Ivanov, Director of Varna's Observatory and Planetarium "Nicholaus Copernicus."The idea belongs to Bulgarian astronaut Alexander Alexandrov ,while the interest coming form the US side has been expressed by one of "Lockheed Martin's" Vice Presidents at a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, according to Ivanov.He has stated that the future center would be similar to the one in the Turkish city of Izmir. The Bulgarian center would be mostly educational and not a center for training future astronauts and pilots. Ivanov added that such centers exist at many US locations and are equipped with aviation and gravitation simulators, laboratories for spatial biology experiments and others.Ivanov explained that talks about such center are yet to be conducted with the local administration, adding that Varna had many good locations for it, such as the area known as "Pochivka" (Leisure).When asked about the cost of such center, Ivanov replied that it would be millions of EUR.

Eight companies bid for underground transport extension in Sofia

 

Eight companies have filed offers in the tender for building the second line of the Sofia underground transport, a note on the website of Sofia municipality informs. The candidates should keep their bids within cost estimates of EUR 185.2mn. The length of the line is estimated at 6.5km and will be serviced by 7 stations until 2012. Sofia ’s municipal firm Metropoliten and the transport ministry signed a month ago an operational agreement for financing 85% of the project under the EU-funded transport operational programme. Metropoliten called a new tender for leading constructor three months ago, as the nine offers in the first tender exceed the budget limitations.

 

 

The Czechs will build a �1 B power unit in Varna

The price of the unit was not mentioned, but according to rough expert evaluation it would be around EUR1BN. EUR40MN from the ecological investment fund which the Czechs undertook to set up back when they privatized the Varna TPP two years ago, will be spent for the project and for the initial construction work. The new capacity, two of which turbines will be operating on natural gas, will be environmentally friendly. Therefore, the Czech company will use some of the mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol for financing it. Negotiations with Gazprom are already being held for long-term deliveries of gas to the five new units which CEZ plans to build in Europe. With the new block added, the Varna TPP which presently has six units of 210 megawatt each, will become the biggest power station not only in Bulgaria, but in the Balkans as well, with a total installed capacity of 2,180 megawatts. The construction of the unit has been dictated by the vagueness regarding the quotas of harmful emissions to be set for the Varna TPP, explained CEZ Regional Manager Lubos Pavlas. In his words, if the present quotas are maintained or if they are increased, three of the old units may well be decommissioned. Currently, three units of the Varna TPP are kept in a regime of cold reserve - that is, they are constantly ready to be switched to the system, for which the National Electricity Company (NEC) pays at a price, fixed by the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC). In 2008 Q1 the power station did not fulfil its quota for the regulated markets. Problems regarding the mandatory quality of electricity existed also in 2007, although the heating season that already passed was very busy for the Varna-based enterprise. The reason is that the Czechs ignored the regulatory requirements and were exporting electricity to the neighbour countries at prices at least twice higher than those on the domestic market. The exports provoked NEC's sharp reactions. SEWRC's head Prof. Konstantin Shoushoulov noted during the week that the regulatory body might sanction the Varna TPP for non-observance of the set quotas, thus "causing losses to other firms". Some experts are adamant that the main motive for building the new 920-megawatt units is the emerging shortage of electricity in the Balkans rather that ecological considerations. CEZ obviously plans to fill in some of that shortage by selling directly to consumers in Bulgaria and in neighbour countries. The accelerated construction plans suggest that conclusion. The new capacity should be put in operation in 2013. According to Brussels, the reduction of harmful emissions should then reach 20% vs 2005, which will practically close down not only three of the oldest coal-fired units of the Varna TPP, but also several more power stations in Bulgaria - the Bobov Dol TPP, the Maritsa 3 TPP in Dimitrovgrad, and Briquel's (the former Maritsa-Iztok 1) 155 megawatts.

Turkey's Turkcell, seven others buy documents for tender for fourth Bulgarian wireless operator

 

Turkey's largest wireless operator Turkcell and seven others companies have bought documents for taking part in a tender for a fourth mobile operator in Bulgaria, the country's telecoms regulator said. Turkcell, Liechtenstein-registered TelCo, Globul, the Bulgarian unit of Greek wireless operator Cosmote, and five Bulgarian firms have bought the tender documents, the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) said in a statement posted on its website. The five Bulgaria-registered companies that acquired the documents are: WiMAX telecoms operators Max Telecom and Trans Telecom, retailer Mobilworld, TV channel owner M SAT and consultancy Paladium Capital, the statement said. Bulgaria will call on July 29 the tender for a fourth mobile operator at a staring price of 38 million levs ($30.3 million/19.4 million euro). Bidders for the 20-years licence have to announce their intention to participate in the tender by July 11. Two wireless operators are active in on the market of 7.6 million people alongside Globul - Mobiltel, a unit of Telekom Austria, and Vivatel, owned by the country's dominant fixed-line operator BTC.

 

Bulgaria construction companies to register in Russia

 

Eight Bulgarian construction companies would register as a joint stock company in Russia, as reported by the Bulgarian daily newspaper "24 Hours", citing an announcement from the stock exchange of one of those companies - "Trace".
The first goal of the joint stock company under the name "Bulgarian Builder" is to win projects' competitions for the Winter Olympics in Sochi.Additionally, "Trace" had negotiated projects in the Western Balkans, the Persian Gulf and in countries from the former Soviet Union.

 

Kuwait's Kharafi Group to enter Bulgarian holiday market

 

Kuwaiti diversified investment group Kharafi Group said on Monday it plans to enter the Bulgarian holiday market as part of its investment strategy for central and eastern Europe. The company will use as an investment vehicle its holding group Sovereign Hospitality Holdings, whose core operations are in the hotel, tourism and real estate sectors in CEE, it said in a statement. "Our objective, with the support of the Kharafi Group, is to expand through strategic acquisitions in Bulgaria and worldwide," Sovereign Hospitality Holdings executive director Mohamed Fahmy said in the statement. The holding group plans to buy land at the Black Sea coast, in Bulgarian mountain resorts as well as in the bigger cities in the next couple of months. Sovereign Hospitality Holdings currently runs 21 hotels and resorts, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, and plans to add 11 new hospitality developments in the next three years. It is currently developing an InterContinental Hotel project in Damascus in Syria and a residential project which will host an InterContinental Hotel in Dakar, in Senegal. The group also has management agreements with a number of companies including Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hyatt International, Rotana Hotels and Resorts, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Six Senses Spa. M.A. Kharafi Group (www.makharafi.net) operates in 25 countries and employs more than 100,000 worldwide. Its annual turnover exceeds $4.0 billion (2.5 billion euro).

Bulgaria lagging behind from European practice of public-private partnership

Bulgaria lags behind the rest of Europe where 10 to 15 per cent of public projects are implemented via public-private partnerships, Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Anna Yaneva told reporters Tuesday. At this moment the number of such projects in Bulgaria is rather low, she said. Yaneva took part in an international conference on "Opportunities and Perspectives for the Development of Public-Private Partnership" organized by the Institute for Public-Private Partnership and the Sofia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, BTA reported. According to Yaneva, using public-private partnership is one of the ways to reduce corruptive practices and solve certain problems relating to public services. Commenting a draft ordinance on public-private partnership written by the Association of Bulgarian Towns and Regions, Yaneva said her Ministry would support it after it has read the document. Yaneva said that a version of the updated strategy for the privatization of the Bulgartabac holding is to be ready within two weeks. The document is to be discussed by the government and then by Parliament. The previous such strategy was approved back in 2003 and is no longer up-to-date. Bulgartabac is on the list of companies that are to be privatized through a strategy. Several days ago Bulgartabac Holding group reported a net profit of over 13 million leva for 2007. The 2007 income of the company is about 41 million leva, down by 14.2 per cent from 2006 (some 47.6 million leva). The main reason for the drop is the smaller amount of dividends paid to Bulgartabac by its subsidiaries (down by 67.6 per cent from 2006). The company's income from trademark royalties totaled 22.3 million leva, up by 2.2 per cent from 2006 (21.8 million leva). Proceeds from tobacco sales exceeded the 2006 figure by more than 128 per cent, reaching 4.3 million leva.

 

Bulgarian companies to win public procurements for � 2 B

 

Bulgarian companies will soon have the chance to participate in a EU tender worth 2.145 billion euro as prime bidders or subcontractors. The European Commission launched the first public procurement under the Galileo Program: an EU reciprocation to the US global navigation satellite system GPS (Global Positioning System). The procurement is for provision of engineer support to the Galileo system as well as engineer control of its terrestrial infrastructures, the building of its satellites and carrier rockets. At least 40 percent of all activities should be assigned to subcontractors.

Euromoney names Raiffeissen Best Bank in CEE

At a ceremony in Vienna held yesterday evening, British magazine Euromoney gave away its annual awards. Raiffeissen Central Bank Austria AG ans its subsidiary Raiffeissen International Bank-Holding were named Best Bank in Central and Eastern Europe. Raiffeissen's subsidiaries in Albania, Belarus and Bosnia and Herzegovina were named Best Banks in their respective countries, while Raiffeissen Bank Bulgaria received the Best Bank on the Debt Market prize. The fact that Euromoney chose Vienna as a host city to this year's ceremony underlines the importance of the Austrian capital as the link between Central and Eastern Europe. Raiffeissen receives the award for the fourth year in a row.„We are continuing to grow in a challenging environment,“said Valter Rotenstein, Raiffeissen International chairman of Supervisory Board.„This award reflects our progress in the integration of the banks we acquired in 2007 and the fact that we increased the number of our clients by 1.6 million,” Reiffeissen International CEO Herbert Stepic added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANALYSIS:

 

Sleeping beauty Bulgaria awaits EU's kiss to waken from its slumber

Author: Vessela Sergueva, Agence France Presse

 

Fast asleep in the forests of the Rhodope mountains, this former miners' town, like a lot of other near-forgotten places in Bulgaria, is hoping for an EU financial kiss to waken from its slumber and start pulling in the tourists."We've got ancient Thracian sanctuaries, mineral water springs, a mine that's been turned into a crystal museum and even an ostrich farm," Zlatograd's deputy mayor Elvira Ugurlieva told AFP.In a bid to revitalise the area, town authorities have applied for cash from the European rural development fund.In communist times, the local Gorubso mine complex, a producer of non-ferrous metals, was the biggest employer in the region. But most of the mines have since been closed. Still visible on the mine's now deserted buildings are signs with communist-era slogans, such as the one in the town of Rudozem: "This plant is a product of Bulgarian-Soviet friendship." The miners are pinning their hopes on tourism as a new source of income."Tourists are discovering our region where the mountains are beautiful and nature has been unspoiled by industry," said Pencho Rusinov, a miner-turned-cafe-owner.
"A new crossing point (on the Bulgarian-Greek border) is being opened which will hopefully bring in lots of Greek tourists," he says. In fact, it was Zlatograd's proximity to the border with Greece that made it such an isolated place during communism, when access was restricted so as to prevent illegal crossings.Nowadays, local authorities are considering turning the barbed-wire fence that divided the one-time Cold War enemies of Bulgaria and Greece into a tourist attraction. But they fear bad roads could hamper tourism's progress."These winding and potholed roads will put the brakes on any influx of tourists," says Zarko Durev, a former mining engineer who now runs a small hotel in Rudozem.The head of Bulgaria's State Tourism Agency, Anelia Krushkova, agrees.
"Bulgaria's cultural and natural heritage is precious, but inaccessible," she said.
Now, following EU accession, "it's up to the municipal authorities to take the initiative and make their tourist sites better known," Krushkova said.A number of towns in Bulgaria's world-famous Rose Valley at the foot of the Balkan mountains have already started to improve infrastructure.And summer festivals celebrating the Damascus rose, whose precious oil is used to make some of the world's leading perfumes, have increased in number throughout the valley.This region, in central Bulgaria, is also called the Valley of the Thracian Kings thanks to the large number of ancient burial sites scattered around. The Thracians inhabited the area that is now present-day Bulgaria between 4000 BC and 300 AD.The sites were hardly accessible at all to tourists until just a few years ago. But that has now improved thanks to infrastructure improvements paid for by the European pre-accession programme PHARE.EU cash could also be used to restore tourist sites and promote tourism. But corruption concerns have recently prompted the European Commission to freeze payments to some Bulgarian beneficiaries of its pre-accession programmes.Otherwise, Bulgaria has plenty to show tourists.The small Balkan state situated on the crossroads between Europe and Asia is home to some 45,000 historic monuments, a number exceeded only by Greece and Italy, Krushkova said.Nine Bulgarian culture and nature sites feature on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Bulgaria also has some 160 monasteries. And two of Europe's oldest, but still working churches, St. George and St. Sophia, are to be found in Sofia.In 2007, tourism revenues from the country's Black sea and mountain resorts amounted to 2.3 billion euros (3.6 billion dollars), equivalent to 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).