In the first quarter of 2026, the construction sector in Bulgaria recorded significant annual growth. The issued permits for the construction of residential buildings increased by 10.5% compared to the same period in 2025, with the number of dwellings in them increasing by 28.3%. The leading construction activity is the districts of Plovdiv, Sofia, Varna and Burgas. However, there is a slight decline compared to the last quarter of 2025, according to data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI). In the first quarter of 2026, local administrations in the country issued construction permits for 2,302 residential buildings, which include a total of 13,567 dwellings. Their total built-up area (GFA) amounts to 1,735,449 sq. m. Projects for 13 administrative buildings and offices with 6,762 sq. m of GFA have been approved, as well as for 1,218 other buildings with a total area of ​​640,381 sq. m. Compared to the same period in 2025, significant growth is reported. The issued permits for the construction of new residential buildings increased by 10.5%, the number of dwellings in them - by 28.3%, and their total built-up area increased by 33.3%. There was also an increase in administrative buildings, respectively by 8.3% in the number of permits and 81.6% in the GFA. For other types of buildings, the permits are 12.8% more, and their area - by 4.5%. The largest number of permits for the construction of new residential buildings were issued in the districts of Plovdiv (368), Sofia-region (287), Sofia-city (265), Varna (200) and Burgas (169). In terms of the number of future homes to be built, Sofia (capital) leads with 3,948 homes, followed by Plovdiv with 2,235, Burgas with 2,018, Varna with 1,200 and Ruse with 591. In the first three months of 2026, the construction of 1,649 residential buildings with 10,193 homes in them and a total gross area of ​​1,168,008 sq m has started. The construction of 11 administrative buildings (8,881 sq m gross area) and 594 other buildings (355,460 sq m gross area) has also started. On an annual basis (compared to the first quarter of 2025), the number of new residential buildings started is 15.2% more, and the number of dwellings in them is increasing by as much as 67.4%. The gross floor area of ​​these buildings has also increased significantly – by 58.1%. The most active construction has started in the districts of Plovdiv (288 residential and 100 other buildings), Sofia (capital) (312 residential and 22 other buildings) and Sofia region (174 residential and 49 other buildings).

Bulgaria received a postponement for the implementation of key reforms under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which managed to save 400 million euros that were otherwise crossed out by the previous government of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov. This concerns the restoration of the work of an independent Anti-Corruption Commission, as well as an independent investigation of the Prosecutor General – two reforms that were supposed to take place in the second and third payments. Of the total amount, 257 million euros were withheld by the EC because of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and 143 million euros are money that our country has already received under a previous payment and would have had to return due to the expired deadline for the reform. Otherwise, another 109 million euros were withheld from the third payment because of the unimplemented reform for the independent investigation of the Prosecutor General. However, under it, the deadline was extended from June 22 to August 31. A longer deadline and a broad horizon are given to the new government to be voted on in the National Assembly. The payments under the PSU are key to reducing the country’s excessive budget deficit – last month, data from the European statistics office Eurostat confirmed that Bulgaria had breached the deficit rule and was outside the allowable limits for it in 2025. With the requested €900 million from the fourth payment, the €400 million saved and additional investment programs under the PSU, the caretaker government leaves around €2 billion more in the budget for the next regular government. The request for the fourth payment was made in early April – it is worth €900 million, with the majority of the amount expected to be in the budget by the end of June.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Northern Bulgaria will have the opportunity to undergo a series of free specialized trainings and receive individual expert assistance for their technological transformation. This is made possible through the new N-Spark program, launched by the Executive Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (BSMEPA) in partnership with the World Bank. The initiative is part of the large-scale project "The North in Growth" and is focused on preparing businesses for the challenges of the digital era. It is financed under the "Competence and Innovation in Enterprises" Program. The trainings cover four critical areas: Digital Thinking: Mastering modern methods for digitalizing business processes; Working with Artificial Intelligence (AI): Practical guidelines on how AI tools can improve a company's efficiency; Management Skills: Strategic planning and leadership training; Team Effectiveness: Developing skills for working in a dynamic and technological environment. N-Spark is structured in two main stages, offering a total of up to 40 hours of combined individual support and group coaching over 8 weeks. At the end of each training, participants will have a concrete action plan to implement immediately in their companies, and will receive an official certificate of completion. Participation is completely free of charge for all approved SMEs from Northern Bulgaria. The deadline for submitting documents is May 20, 2026. The program is aimed at micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in one of the following areas: Vidin, Vratsa, Montana, Pleven, Lovech, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse, Razgrad, Targovishte, Silistra, Dobrich, Shumen and Varna. To be eligible, companies must meet several conditions: Net sales revenue for the last financial year of at least EUR 127,822.97; Absence of public liabilities to the state; The program is not open to companies from the "Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries" sector (primary production); Applicants must not have received similar state-funded services in the last 12 months.

The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) announced that it is investigating whether Vivacom Bulgaria EAD is abusing its dominant position. This concerns a specific segment of the telecom operator's activity - as the owner of the underground channel network, it provides it to other companies in return for payment of access and usage fees. According to A1, the complainant to the CPC, these fees are excessively high. The antimonopoly regulator states that it is investigating "the conduct of Vivacom Bulgaria" in determining the prices for renting the infrastructure to enterprises providing public electronic communications services. The proceedings are to establish a possible abuse of a dominant position and should establish whether the conduct in question harms or has the potential to harm competition and affect the interests of consumers." The dispute reached the Supreme Administrative Court. With a decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of 2025, the CRC act was confirmed and therefore the antitrust regulator has now resumed its work on the case. "Vivacom" - the successor to BTC, during the privatization also received the entire underground infrastructure of the state-owned enterprise. In 2023, "Vivacom" announced indexation - that is, an increase in prices for using the underground network. At that time, a number of companies from the sector objected to the CRC - the National Association of Cable Operators "Club 2000", "Linear Networks" OOD, "Delta Cable Television", "Multimedia - BG", "Videosat Nove", "Telekabel", "A1 Bulgaria", "Cetin Bulgaria". There are dozens of Internet and TV providers in Bulgaria, but when these companies need to deliver cable to their customers, they rely on one player - "Vivacom". By law, in populated areas with over 10,000 inhabitants and over the air, they cannot be available, and the so-called cable network is largely laid down during the time of BTC and, accordingly, inherited from Vivacom. In the summer of 2023, the Communications Regulatory Commission ruled in favor of the complainants and gave mandatory instructions to "Vivacom" NOT to raise prices. The company in turn sued the village against the "instructions". The dispute reached the Supreme Administrative Court and ultimately the supreme judges confirmed the CRC's act.

Plovdiv-based digital agency SEOMAX is expanding its portfolio of services by acquiring a 50% stake in the creative video production studio Minds. The company defines the deal as strategic, not financial, with the aim of exchanging know-how, clients and a team. The studio will operate under a new brand and company Social Minds, with ownership divided between SEOMAX and Minds founder Gergana Dimova. Advertisers are increasingly directing a larger part of their budget to digital channels, with video being among the preferred formats for reaching and engaging the audience. Therefore, expanding the video expertise of the digital agency SEOMAX is a logical next business step. The creative studio Minds ("Printed") was founded in 2019 by partners Gergana Dimova and Miroslav Sabev. The company specializes in advertising video productions, with their services including concept development, script development, filming, sound design and editing for online channels. The studio's professional expertise also includes influencer marketing and user-generated content. SEOMAX indicates that the acquisition deal has been in preparation since the end of 2025. At that time, the new company "Social Minds" was registered, into which Minds' activities are transferred. The manager of the new Social Minds agency is Gergana Dimova, who owns a 50% share of the company. The remaining percentages are distributed between SEOMAX partners Petar Dyaksov and Lyubomir Atanasov with 22.5% each and Dimitar Denev with 5%. Part of the Minds team will continue to work in the new agency, which already has a portfolio of clients. Among them are "Lavena" (Bochko), "Kamko", Cocosolis, "Mebeli IDEA", Global Aesthetics, "Medenka Lyubimka" and CreditOne. The SEOMAX digital agency is part of the Internet Media Group portfolio, which also includes media, digital companies, training programs, etc. The owners of the group are Irina Atanasova and Lyubomir Atanasov, who also owns 45% of the company "Seomax". The remaining 45% is held by Petar Dyaksov, and 10% is held by Dimitar Denev. With revenues of 1.9 million leva for 2024, SEOMAX falls into the top 40 of the largest creative and digital agencies in the country. The company indicates that for 2025 they report revenues of 2 million leva.

Investor interest in the Obrochishte manganese deposit near Balchik is once again on the agenda, but the procedure for granting a new concession is currently blocked, the Ministry of Energy reports. An application has been submitted by Bulgarian Manganese Company Ltd. for granting a concession for the extraction of manganese ore from the Obrochishte deposit, Balchik municipality, through a tender. However, some of the opinions of the coordinating institutions are negative. This is precisely what is preventing the opening of the concession procedure. At this stage, a concession analysis has not been prepared, which means that there are no specific parameters for the possible development of the deposit. The Obrochishte deposit is of strategic importance for the economy, as manganese is a key raw material for metallurgy, as well as for modern industries such as battery production and green technologies. Bulgaria has significant reserves, estimated at over 8.7 million tons of ore with an average manganese content of 27–28%. The previous concession, granted to Euromangan AD in 1999 for a period of 25 years, officially ended in 2024. However, in reality, mining was stopped back in 2019 after serious violations were found - unpaid concession fees, delayed salaries, electricity obligations and lack of maintenance of the mining infrastructure. After years of inactivity, the contract expired, and the deposit was returned to the state. Pro News Dobrich

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has finally annulled a forest swap worth nearly 11 million leva from the time of the government of Sergey Stanishev, who ruled with the mandate of the DPS in the period 2005-2009. The decision of the three-member panel, taken on April 28, 2026, states that the company "Invest Stroy 7" EOOD, which in practice profited from the deal, must return the funds as illegally received state aid. Forest swap is a legal procedure in which the state exchanges its forest territories (state property) for private forests or lands (private property). This means that the owner of a private forest can transfer it to the state, and in return receives another plot of forest territory from the state itself. The swaps became widespread after amendments to the Forestry Act in 2002 and continued until 2009. However, many of them, especially in the period 2007-2009, were assessed by the European Commission as illegal state aid, as private individuals received valuable land - often on the Black Sea coast or in mountain resorts - in exchange for less valuable forests. The swaps covered about 2,500 attractive properties on the Black Sea coast and in mountain resorts, replaced with deserted ones to the detriment of the state. The list of beneficiaries that received illegal state aid turned out to be companies related to businessmen Grisha Ganchev, Hristo Kovachki, Nikolay Banev, Todor Batkov, etc. In 2014, the EC ruled that these swaps were illegal state aid and demanded that it be recovered by the state. However, the state could not do so because it was unable to assess exactly how much aid was in question. In 2019, the government estimated that the damage was over 80 million leva and overvalued the forests, asking the beneficiaries to pay the difference. However, after that, a mass of lawsuits began, filed by them in Bulgarian courts, which the state lost one by one. Even earlier - in its 2009 report - the World Bank wrote that, according to NGO calculations, the damage from the substitutions was 500 million dollars, or nearly 800 million leva according to the US currency exchange rate of that period. In the fall of 2023, the European Commission filed a case against our country in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), because the state never managed to return the money. In November last year, the CJEU condemned us, ruling that Bulgaria had failed to fulfill its obligation to recover all funds from unauthorized state aid for the replacement of state-owned forest lands with private properties in the period 2007-2009. Thus, it violated both Decision 2015/456 of the European Commission of 5 September 2014, as well as the terms of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). After the conviction by the Court of Justice of the EU, our country is about to pay one-off and periodic fines until it recovers the real cost. The Act for the Establishment of a Public State Receivable /AUPDV/ established a public state receivable of "Invest Stroy 7" EOOD, representing state aid incompatible with the internal market, subject to recovery, in the amount of 7,294,669 BGN principal and 3,569,168.72 BGN interest, or a total of 10,863,837.72 BGN. From the administrative file presented in the case, it is evident that, based on an order from 2009 of the Chairman of the State Forestry Agency, a contract for the exchange of forest properties was concluded between the State Forestry Agency (SFA) and "Invest Stroy 7" OOD (now EOOD), according to which the state, through SFA, transfers to the company the right of ownership over specifically individualized land properties with a total area of ​​74,901 decares, part of the state forest fund, private state property, located in the land of the village of Bistritsa. and the village of German in the Sofia Municipality, Pancharevo District. For its part, Invest Stroy 7 OOD then transferred to the state ownership of specifically individualized properties, part of the forest fund, with a total area of ​​82,907 decares, located respectively in the city of Gabrovo and the land of the village of Stolat, Sevlievo Municipality. The administrative value of the replaced state-owned properties was determined to a total of 369,560 BGN, according to the submitted Valuation Certificates, respectively the administrative value of the replaced private-owned properties is 870,380.08 BGN. The court points to the EC decision of 2014 and says that it must be complied with. For this reason, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries conducted an evaluation procedure - the market prices of the replaced state-owned properties and the total market value of the properties replaced by the company were assessed. The proceedings ended with the issuance of the procedural act, which determined an amount for the recovery of a public state claim, representing state aid incompatible with the internal market in the total amount of BGN 10,863,837.72. The expert found that for the period 2009–2018, no transactions with wood acquired from the same properties were reflected in the accounting records of “Invest Stroy 7” EOOD. Thus, the court of first instance concluded that no reasons were stated in connection with the determination of the addressee of the act as an “undertaking” within the meaning of Art. 107, § 1 of the TFEU, which constitutes a violation leading to the illegality of the administrative act. The contested Administrative Administrative Decision was annulled and the file was sent to the competent administrative authority. However, the decision is incorrect, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled. The Supreme Administrative Court completely annuls decision No. 52 of 09.01.2025, rendered in administrative case No. 252 of the inventory of the Sofia District Administrative Court for 2024. It rejects the appeal of "Invest stroy 7" EOOD against the Act for the establishment of a public state claim No. RD-05-4 of 20.12.2019, issued by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. It orders "Invest stroy 7" EOOD to pay the Ministry of Agriculture and Food costs for the proceedings in the amount of 30,176.50 euros. The decision is final.

As of the end of March, the total revenues of Trace Group Hold AD amounted to EUR 25.29 million, and total expenses, excluding taxes, were EUR 25.16 million. The interim financial result after taxes is a profit of EUR 120 thousand. Trace Group Hold AD reported for the first quarter of 2026 revenues (excluding financial) from operations of EUR 25.27 million. However, they decreased by 35.64% compared to the same period last year. The most significant share of them (98%) is revenue from construction contracts, which decreased by 35.41% on an annual basis to EUR 24.74 million. Cash receipts from the sale of services are increasing. Other income decreased by 54.65%, the most significant of which are those from leases of own assets. Distributed by segments, a total of 65.84% of the company's revenues (excluding financial) were realized in our country, another 29.96% came from Serbia, and 4.20% - from Romania. The company's expenses by economic elements at the end of March amounted to 24.66 million euros and decreased by 33.61 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. The funds spent on raw materials and supplies were 5.68 million euros (23.04% relative share), which decreased on an annual basis. The most significant in the group are the costs of basic construction materials. 15.04 million euros were spent on external services (60.96% share) and decreased by 36.09 percent. This includes expenses for subcontractors worth 11.21 million euros, services with mechanization, transport services, design, geodesy and laboratory, insurance and others. The amounts paid for salaries and insurance contributions to the staff, however, increased by 22.11% on an annual basis and amounted to 3.01 million euros. The number of employees of the company and its branches abroad at the end of March was 449 people. The largest number of employees (67.11%) is in Bulgaria, another 27.63% work in Serbia, and 5.26% - in Romania. The registered capital of "Trace Group Hold" is 12,342,000 euros, distributed in 24,200,000 dematerialized registered shares with voting rights and a nominal value of 0.51 euros each. The company's shares have been traded on the "Bulgarian Stock Exchange" since October 27, 2007. The largest shareholder is Prof. Nikolay Mihaylov - Chairman of the Supervisory Board, who owns 67.01% of the capital, and through "Galini - N" EOOD controls another 9 percent. "Trace Group" also has 0.015% of its own repurchased shares in its portfolio.

The European Union’s plan to invest €20 billion in building giant AI computing power centers is drawing increasing criticism even before its official launch, writes Politico. The initiative, initially announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, envisages the creation of so-called “gigafactories” – large-scale computing centers to train the most advanced AI models. The plan is due to be officially presented this spring as a European response to the massive investments of the US and China in the field of artificial intelligence. Despite the ambition, a number of MEPs and experts question the real need for such a huge capacity. According to them, it is not clear whether there is enough demand for such infrastructure in Europe and whether the €20 billion investment will not prove ineffective in global competition. Critics also point out that the European Union is already lagging behind the US and China due to stricter regulation of the technology sector. At the same time, American projects such as OpenAI’s planned $500 billion megacenter set a completely different scale of development. The European Commission defends the project, emphasizing that the goal is strategic independence. According to a Commission spokesperson, Europe must have its own computing infrastructure in order not to be dependent on external forces. The plan envisages the construction of four to five giant centers, each with about 100,000 graphics processors – key hardware for training AI models. They would be significantly larger than previous European projects and would compete with leading global initiatives. The funding would be mixed – from public and private sources, with the EU setting aside €20 billion as its own contribution. Dozens of proposals have already been submitted from 16 countries, including from major technology companies in Europe, which the Commission says shows serious interest in the project. However, some experts remain skeptical. They question who exactly will use this capacity, since there are a limited number of companies in Europe capable of developing models on the scale of ChatGPT. A prime example is the French company Mistral AI, which is among the few leading players in the region, but is already investing independently in its own infrastructure outside the European plan. Some of them also believe that instead of trying to catch up with the US in the field of large language models, Europe should focus on industrial applications of artificial intelligence, where it has stronger positions – for example, in manufacturing and energy. Another important problem is the dependence on American technology, especially on Nvidia chips, which dominates the graphics processor market. This raises concerns that instead of reducing its dependence, Europe may even deepen it. According to some analysts, the European initiative comes too late and is too small compared to global investments. The US and big technology companies are already investing hundreds of billions of dollars in such infrastructure, which puts the EU in a difficult competitive position. Despite the criticism, the European Commission insists that the project is key to the continent's technological sovereignty. However, the debate remains open – whether Europe is building the foundation for its future technological independence or is risking investing billions in infrastructure without a clear market and strategic direction. Bulgaria has already won a project to build one of the six new European gigafactories for artificial intelligence. Our country was among those approved by the European Union for funding worth 90 million euros last year. The initiative is being implemented in partnership between Sofia Tech Park and the Institute for Computer Technologies and Artificial Intelligence (INSAIT). The decision was announced by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), which listed the countries involved in building the new strategic infrastructure. In addition to Bulgaria, the selected countries include Austria, France, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. The Bulgarian factory, called BRAIN++, will be located in Sofia Tech Park, and its construction will begin in 2026. The project includes two main elements that will work in close connection – a new generation Discoverer++ supercomputer, optimized for artificial intelligence tasks, and a service center that will serve state institutions, scientific organizations, educational structures and the private sector. INSAIT will have a key role in the development of advanced AI models – including Earth observation systems, robotics and large language models. The goal is to position Bulgaria as a leading country in Europe in the field of artificial intelligence. According to official information, BRAIN++ will build on what INSAIT has achieved and will support the development of the innovation ecosystem in the country. The project also has a wider European dimension – factories in Bulgaria, Austria, Poland and Slovenia will develop dedicated AI infrastructures, while those in France and Germany will be connected to new exascale supercomputers currently under construction. This should strengthen Europe’s overall technological capacity in the field of artificial intelligence.

The number of dollar billionaires is on the rise and shows no signs of slowing down. The global population of US dollar billionaires has increased from 2,723 in 2021 to 3,110 in 2026, a 14% increase in the past five years alone, Euronews reports. This growth rate is expected to accelerate. According to Knight Frank’s 2026 Wealth Report, the number of billionaires will grow by 26% over the next five years, reaching 3,915 by 2031. Europe is expected to be one of the main drivers of this growth. The number of European billionaires is forecast to increase from 780 in 2026 to 994 in 2031, a 27% increase. The report tracks the top 20 countries with the fastest projected growth. Eight of them are European, with the Nordic countries dominating. Among the 20, Saudi Arabia tops the list with a 183% increase, with the number of billionaires expected to increase from 23 to 65 by 2031. Poland leads the way in Europe. The number of billionaires there is expected to more than double, from 13 to 29, a 123% increase. Sweden is second in Europe and third in the world, with an 81% increase, from 32 to 58. Denmark is next, with the number set to rise from 12 to 21, a 75% increase. Norway also contributes to Scandinavia’s dominance, with the number of billionaires rising from 17 to 26, a 53% increase. Three of the four fastest-growing European countries are Scandinavian. Austria will see a 50% increase, from 12 to 18 billionaires. Spain follows with a 40% increase, reaching 53 by 2031. Italy, another major European economy, will increase its number from 61 to 82. Turkey, a candidate country for EU membership, is expected to see a 31% increase, with the number rising from 35 to 46. These rankings are based on five-year growth rates. That’s why major economies like the UK, Germany and France are not included. For example, Germany led Europe with 171 billionaires in 2025, according to Forbes. When the same 20 countries are ranked by total number of billionaires in 2031, India leads with 313, followed by Australia and Singapore with 85 each. Among European countries on the list, Italy is at the top with 82 billionaires. Sweden is expected to reach 58, overtaking Spain with 53. The Asia-Pacific region leads the world in terms of billionaires. Its 1,116 ultra-rich will account for 36% of the world’s total in 2026. The Americas follow with 34%, split between North America (31%) and Latin America (3%). Europe, meanwhile, accounts for a quarter of the world’s billionaires. By 2031, Europe’s billionaire population will grow from 780 to 994, approaching the 1,000 mark. Its share of the world will increase slightly to 25.4%. North America will increase its number of billionaires in absolute terms, from 995 to 1,089. But its share will fall from 31% to 27.8%, making it the only region with a declining share. The report highlights that the wealthiest families are already spreading their wealth across multiple hubs – typically in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. This diversification is driven by a deep need for security and the rule of law. manager.bg

Annual inflation in Turkey increased by 4.18 percentage points month-on-month to 32.37 percent in April, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), quoted by TRT Haber. The annual changes in the three main expenditure groups with the greatest weight are as follows: food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 34.55 percent, transportation costs increased by 35.06 percent, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 46.60 percent. Turkish economists predicted an increase in inflation in April by 3.19 percent month-on-month and a level of 31.11 percent year-on-year, the website "Economim" notes. According to economists' estimates, the average inflation level in Turkey at the end of 2026 is expected to reach 28.16 percent.