The state's debts are rising significantly, data from the Ministry of Finance shows. For the first three months of the year the arrears of the administration to business and citizens amounted to nearly BGN 328 million in total. For the same period last year, unpaid contracts amounted to BGN 236 million. From the breakdown for the first quarter of 2018, it is clear that the central government's delayed liabilities amounted to BGN 65 million and unpaid funds from the social security funds including the NHIF) amounted to nearly BGN 125 million. This sum is taken into account in the overdue payments of the fund to foreign health funds. Municipalities have delayed payments of BGN 138 million from the beginning of the year to the end of March. As of January 2018 the NHIF's debts to public funds abroad surpass BGN 271 million, of which BGN 201 million are overdue. For this year, the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has provided for just over BGN 73 million to cover the obligations in question.

The price of gas will be increased by about 10% starting July 1, according to a report by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), which has to be finally adopted by the end of the month. Meanwhile, electricity will see an increase as well. Experts estimate that the increase may be on average about 5%. Experts from the EWRC work group have, however, curtailed the request of the state-owned Bulgargas, which requested an 18% increase a month ago. The company motivated the required appreciation with the expected higher prices of alternative fuels on world markets - 11% of fuel oil and 11.5% of gas oil respectively. This in turn would lead to an increase in Gazprom Export's delivery prices of about 11.5%. However, experts of EWRC believe that Bulgargaz has overcollected income in previous years, and so the appreciation cannot be so great. This is not the first time that the EWRC cuts the public provider's request. At the end of March, for example, Bulgargaz threatened the regulator with court actions, as they demanded an increase of 4.85%, but received almost half of it - 2.6% from April 1.

A total of 43.96 mln shares of poultry producer Gradus were subscribed for at the minimum price of BGN 1.8 apiece on the first day of the company's initial public offering (IPO) on the Bulgarian bourse, exceeding the succeess threshold. The company had said the IPO would be considered successful if at least 36.1 million shares are subscribed for. The IPO auction will continue on Tuesday. Trade in Gradus shares generated a turnover of BGN 79.1 million, the data shows. Gradus is offering 55.6 million shares, representing a 25% stake in the company, at a price range of BGN 1.80 – BGN 2.35. The IPO of Gradus is expected to be the largest one held on the BSE in the past 11 years. "For more than a year we have been preparing this strategic project and we believe that Gradus is a very good example for successful companies in all sectors of our economy. We are convinced that with the funds raised over these two days the company will meet its ambitious investment plans," Ivan Takev, CEO of BSE, said.

Bulgaria's competition regulator said that it has issued approval to car dealerships Sofia Auto Bulgaria and Bulvaria Holding to set up a joint venture (JV) company for sales and service of Opel cars. The joint venture - Sofia Auto Bulvaria, will have a registered capital of BGN 500,000, distributed in 50,000 shares with a nominal value of BGN 10 each, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said. None of the interested parties active in the sales of cars and car parts in Bulgaria, which the CPC asked to express their opinion, had any concerns about the effect of the JV on competition on the segment, the competition authority noted. The joint venture will be active in the import and sale of cars under the Opel brand and spare parts for them, as well as in the provision of repair services. Sofia Auto Bulgaria and Bulvaria Holding will discontinue offering those services.

The Bulgarian company for semantic software Ontotext AD, part of Sirma Group Holding AD, has won financing of BGN 779,605 under the "Product and Production Innovation Development" procedure under the Operational Program "Innovation and Competitiveness". The project is called "Intelligent matching and organizing data from different sources" (CIMA). It started in May 2018 and will continue until May 2020. The project team will use technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and semantic modeling to connect and integrate corporate data from a variety of sources. This includes data about individuals, locations, industry taxonomies, and various technology spheres that will be integrated, interconnected, and will ultimately become much easier to use. The aim of the project is to harmonize the data through semantic presentation and integration as well as to develop methods for semantic combining, linking and extracting in a specific area. Ontotext team has already created solutions in this area for some of the largest business information, merger and acquisition consultants.

Supermarket retailer Fantastico is investing BGN 63 million in a new supermarket and the renovation of an existing one, both located in Sofia. Fantastico is putting BGN 39 million into the construction of a new, 4,700 square metre new supermarket on G.M.Dimitrov boulevard, which will create 100 jobs, the company announced. The supermarket is expected to open doors in the autumn. Fantastico plans to complete a BGN 24 million renovation of a supermarket on Cherni Vrah boulevard this autumn. The project spreading on 4,090 sq.m. will create additional 50 jobs. Fantastico operates 41 stores in three Bulgarian cities - Sofia, Elin Pelin and Kyustendil and employs over 3,000 people.

ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 TPP announced it has signed a EUR 78.6 million deal with Germany-based Statkraft Markets for purchase of greenhouse gas emission allowances. The deal was signed on June 13. ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 received two offers in a public procurement procedure for the contract. The greenhouse gas emission allowances are part of the EU Emissions Trading System, which works on the “cap and trade” principle. Within the cap, companies receive or buy emission allowances which they can trade among themselves as needed. Each year companies must surrender enough allowances to cover all their emissions, otherwise fines are imposed. Statkraft Markets is a unit of Norwegian state-owned hydropower company Statkraft. The company operates ten hydro power, four gas power and two biomass power stations in Germany.

Lufthansa is in contact with Norwegian Air Shuttle, also the subject of bid interest from British Airways owner IAG, the German group's chief executive told a German daily, sending Norwegian's shares higher. "In Europe, everyone is talking to everyone. There's a new wave of consolidation approaching. That means we are also in contact with Norwegian," Carsten Spohr was quoted as saying by Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Monday. Asked whether Norwegian would fit with the Lufthansa group, Spohr said: "Takeovers are always a question of strategic value, the price and anti-trust. There are no easy answers." Since IAG announced it had bought a stake in April, Norwegian Air has said it has received enquiries from several parties regarding acquisitions, transactions and other forms of cooperation. Norwegian Air's shares opened 10 percent higher in Oslo and by 0745 GMT traded 8.9 percent higher at 271.00 crowns. Lufthansa shares were up 0.6 percent, outperforming a 0.5 percent weaker DAX index.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on an additional USD 200 bln of Chinese goods in a growing trade row. Mr Trump said the 10% tariffs would come into effect if China "refuses to change its practices". The move would be a major escalation of the dispute, which threatens to take the US and China into a trade war. China responded by accusing the US of "blackmail" and saying it would match any further tariffs. Mr Trump insists that China has been unfairly benefitting from a trade imbalance with the US for years. Last week, he announced the US would impose 25% tariffs on USD 50 bln worth of Chinese goods. Beijing responded by saying it would hit 659 US products worth USD 50 bln - including agricultural products, cars and marine products - with a similar tax. Mr Trump said in a statement on Monday night that by retaliating, China was "threatening United States companies, workers, and farmers who have done nothing wrong".

Google is buying a $550 million stake in Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com as part of a strategic partnership between the two companies. The two tech firms announced Monday that they will join forces to sell goods online across Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe, competing with rivals like Amazon and Alibaba. Under the deal, JD said it "plans to make a selection of high-quality products available for sale through Google Shopping in multiple regions." The two companies also hope to combine Google's technology with JD.com's expertise in managing supply chains for products. JD, China's second largest e-commerce retailer after Alibaba, has had its eye on Western markets. In February, CEO Richard Liu told The Financial Times that the Chinese company plans to challenge Amazon in Europe as early as 2019. "This partnership with Google opens up a broad range of possibilities to offer a superior retail experience to consumers throughout the world," JD's chief strategy officer, Jianwen Liao, said in a statement Monday.