Housing loans granted by commercial banks in Bulgaria increased by 28.2 percent on an annual basis to a total of BGN 32.9 billion by the end of December 2025, according to data from the Bulgarian National Bank. The amount of mortgage loans increased by about BGN 7.2 billion per year. For comparison, at the end of last year, housing loans reached BGN 25.69 billion. Consumer loans amounted to BGN 21.348 billion and increased by 13.3 percent compared to December 2024. Overall, household loans amounted to BGN 56.139 billion (25 percent of GDP) at the end of December 2025. Compared to the same month in 2024, they increased by 21.1 percent. Loans to non-financial businesses increased by 10.1 percent year-on-year and reached BGN 53.507 billion at the end of December. At the end of December 2025, loans to the non-governmental sector were BGN 119.179 billion, increasing by 15.4 percent year-on-year.

Household deposits in commercial banks in Bulgaria grew by 19.8 percent on an annual basis to a total of BGN 107.076 billion at the end of December 2025, according to data from the Bulgarian National Bank. Deposits have increased by about BGN 17.7 billion over the past 12 months. For comparison, at the end of 2024 the volume of household deposits reached BGN 89.4 billion. In December 2025 alone, household deposits increased by approximately BGN 6.2 billion, since at the end of November last year the amount amounted to BGN 100.8 billion. Deposits of non-financial businesses in our country grew by 10.2 percent on an annual basis to a total of BGN 51.7 billion at the end of December 2025. Deposits of financial enterprises increased by 14.5 percent on an annual basis in December 2025 and reached BGN 4.698 billion at the end of the month. Overall, at the end of December 2025, deposits of the non-governmental sector were BGN 163.493 billion (72.8 percent of GDP), with an annual increase of 16.4 percent.

According to the final data of the National Statistical Institute, in 2024, 33,551 enterprises carried out economic activity in Burgas District, which generated net sales revenues of BGN 27.85 billion, and the value of the manufactured products amounted to BGN 20.32 billion. The number of employed persons in non-financial enterprises is 120,073. The business structure is dominated by micro-enterprises with up to 9 employees, which form 94.7 percent of all non-financial enterprises in the district. The share of small enterprises (from 10 to 49 employees) is 4.5 percent, of medium-sized enterprises (from 50 to 249 employees) - 0.7 percent, and of large enterprises with over 250 employees - 0.1 percent. Non-financial enterprises in Burgas District ended 2024 with a positive financial result of BGN 1.56 billion. 25,557 enterprises made a profit, 5,414 made a loss, and 2,580 reported a zero financial result. The largest share of net sales revenues was formed by the "Industry" sector with 12.12 billion leva, which represents 43.5 percentage points of total revenues for the district. 21,087 people are employed in industry. Net revenues of 8.35 billion leva were reported in the "Trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" sector, which employs 27,458 people. The services sector realized revenues of 5.23 billion leva and provided employment to 54,541 people, which is 45.4% of all those employed in non-financial enterprises in the district. In 2024, construction generated net revenues of 1.63 billion leva, with 11,259 employees, and in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, revenues reached 514 million leva, with 5,728 employees. For comparison, in 2023, 32,661 enterprises operated in Burgas district, which generated net sales revenues of 26.21 billion leva, with 117,639 employees, according to a BTA report on the national statistics registers. The value of the production amounted to 19.07 billion leva, and the reported positive financial result was 1.59 billion leva. In both years (2023/2024), the leading contributors to revenues in the district were enterprises from industry, trade and the service sector.

All universal, professional and voluntary private pension funds have achieved positive returns. This is indicated by the latest data of the Financial Supervision Commission for the last observed two-year period from December 29, 2023 to December 30, 2025. The arithmetic average return on an annual basis for this period for the most widespread, universal funds, is slightly over 6%. In them, everyone born after December 31, 1959 is mandatorily insured for a second pension. There are four types of supplementary pension funds. The minimum return determined by the Financial Supervision Commission for universal funds for the observed period is 3.25%, and all ten funds of this type cover it. The average return of professional pension funds for employees of the first and second labor categories is 6.4% with a minimum return of 3.25% determined by the Commission, and the arithmetic average return of voluntary pension funds is 7.74%. The profitability of the only voluntary pension fund under occupational schemes is 6.87%. The insured in the four types of pension funds as of the end of September 2025 are over 5 million people. The assets accumulated in them exceeded 30 billion leva. The average amount of pensions paid in the first nine months of 2025 is 236.12 leva, and the average amount of the deferred payment is 515.80 leva.

For comparison with international data on the profitability of pension funds:

* Average nominal profitability for all pension providers in OECD countries in 2024 is about 9.1% (OECD average).

* According to the OECD, positive investment results were reported in 27 of 29 OECD countries in 2024, with some countries even having double-digit real returns:

• Estonia – 11.3%

• Israel – 10%

• Lithuania – 10.8%

• Slovakia – 11.1%.

* Long-term average (e.g. 10-year) returns for pension funds in some developed economies are often in the range of around 4–6% per year, depending on market conditions and fund structure.

Vivacom, part of United Group, is once again among the fastest growing operators in the world for satellite services for businesses. The company has achieved another impressive success, taking 3rd place in the prestigious World Teleport Association (WTA) ranking for 2025 based on growth in revenue from services for business customers. Among the customers of Vivacom's satellite services are international companies such as Disney, Eutelsat, France Media Monde, National Geographic Channel, Viasat, Endurosat, as well as many other satellite operators, system integrators and business customers. Vivacom owns three ground stations for satellite services in Bulgaria - the Plana station, near the village of Plana, and two sites for communication with low-orbit satellites near Stara Zagora and Dobrich. Two more ground stations are under construction by the end of the year - for various international projects for communication with low-orbit satellites. Through the Plana station, one of the most modern and largest satellite communications facilities in the region, with the highest Tier 4 certificate, over 700 TV and radio channels are broadcast to Europe, Africa and Asia, and numerous terrestrial services are also provided to satellite operators, system integrators and business clients.

The Bulgarian Investment Agency (BIA) has awarded a Class A investment certificate to Niko-99-ES OOD for the project "Construction of a warehouse and logistics base in the Sofia-Bozhurishte Industrial Park". The project envisages the construction of a modern warehouse and logistics base, intended for the storage and warehousing of foreign goods and cargo. The base will be located in the village of Gurmazovo, on the territory of the Sofia-Bozhurishte Industrial Park. The investment is worth 3 million leva (approximately 1.53 million euros). The implementation of the project is expected to create new jobs that will contribute to the economic development of the region.

Another 3.2 acres were donated to the Municipality of Burgas by Sariel AD, the investor in the site of the former racetrack in the Bratya Miladinovi residential area. The property will be provided free of charge by Sariel AD, as a result of agreements reached with the Municipality of Burgas and after active correspondence with a group of investors, including Builders Invest EOOD, Dom Madika Invest OOD, High Class Residence EOOD and others. This is the second plot of land that the same company is donating to the Municipality - previously they provided another 2,911 sq m, bringing the total area of ​​the donated properties to 6,110 sq m. The donor's condition is that a hall for cultural and sports infrastructure with parking be built on the newly acquired terrain, with the municipality undertaking to prepare the legal and planning prerequisites for the implementation of the project. The municipality will be able to apply for various European projects in order to receive funding for the construction of the future multifunctional hall. According to experts, the market value of these 3.2 acres is over 3.5 million euros, which is an unprecedented donation. flagman

The young Bulgarian hosting company JetHost continues its aggressive business expansion with another acquisition in the US. The group is joined by Omnis Network, which has over 26 years of history and a large user base. Behind JetHost are Lyubomir Rusanov and Metodi Drenovski - the creators of SuperHosting.bg. After selling the leading Bulgarian hosting business in 2020, they created a new company with the promise of a modern service without hidden conditions. In addition to hosting for sites of various scales, JetHost offers domains and AI Site Builder. In June last year, the company bought the American WebHostFace, which has a 20-year history. Omnis Network was founded in 1999 and to date, over 400,000 users have benefited from its web hosting and domain services. Currently, there are "thousands" of sites on its servers. Omnis Network also has several other brands on the market - Little Oak, Carat Networks, AM Hosting and AmeriNOC. They are also part of the deal. Omnis also offers colocation in its own data center in Tempe, Arizona. After the acquisition is finalized, the entire team will remain and will continue to serve current customers without changes. For users, there will also be no changes at this stage, as sites, domains and emails will function without interruption. However, in the coming months, the infrastructure will be improved with new faster servers, an optimized WordPress environment, the implementation of the AI ​​​​site builder, a new service management panel, expanded partner programs and an upgrade of security systems.

The former Government Hospital has an old new boss. The previous director, Dr. Olga Mitsova, has been elected to manage the Lozenets University Hospital for the next three years. This is clear from the final results of the competition, published on the website of the Ministry of Health. The re-election of Dr. Mitsova was expected, although two more candidates were admitted to the third round and the presentation of a concept for the development of the medical institution - Dr. Vasil Melnikov and Dr. Dimitar Petrov, who in the final ranking remained in second and third place, respectively. Ralitsa Marcheva has been elected as the state representative on the Lozenets Board of Directors. Her competitor, Orlin Nedev, was ranked second and is leaving the hospital management.

Record levels of the shadow economy in Germany. In 2025, the shadow sector reached its highest level in more than a decade against the backdrop of the economic crisis in the country, according to a new study by economist Friedrich Schneider of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) in Tübingen, DPA reported. According to the data, the size of the shadow economy in Germany is estimated at 510 billion euros ($606 billion), and is expected to grow by 5.5% to 538 billion euros this year. The main reasons for this growth are weak economic growth in Germany and rising unemployment. The increase in the minimum wage at the beginning of the year, as well as the increase in the income threshold for low-paid or part-time work with a simplified tax and social security regime (so-called mini-jobs), which is expected to lead to an increase of 2.4 billion euros in real terms, have also contributed to the expansion of the shadow economy. At the same time, the reduced VAT rate in the hotel and restaurant sector limits the incentives for activity outside the tax system. According to the study, the shadow economy is a combination of undeclared work and income from "illegal activities", including some forms of gambling and prostitution. The data show that the share of the shadow economy in Germany's economic output in 2026 will be slightly below the average for the 20 most developed industrial countries. However, since 2021, the shadow economy in Germany has grown by 2.4 percentage points, which is 3 times the average increase for all countries analyzed (0.8 percentage points).

A plan to build a synthetic diamond plant in the United States is a key part of Japan’s $550 billion investment package. The two countries are seeking to expand production of a material that is vital for making chips and high-precision products, sources told Reuters. It could be among the first projects, details of which were first reported by Reuters and to be announced before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visits the United States in early March, the two sources said. China’s recent moves to control exports of some synthetic diamonds underscore their strategic importance. Most of them are currently produced in China. The synthetic diamond project involves Element Six, part of De Beers Group, the world’s leading diamond miner, the source added. The news comes as Japan accelerates efforts to finalize projects under an initiative agreed as part of a deal between Tokyo and Washington to lower tariffs on Japanese exports. The investment package will include equity, loans and loan guarantees from government agencies Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). The first group of projects is likely to include a large-scale power generation project involving Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi, the sources said. Element Six said there were no formal agreements on potential projects at this time. Hitachi said it was in talks with the Japanese and U.S. governments but declined to comment further. Diamond, one of the hardest materials known, is crucial for high-precision manufacturing. It is used for ultra-fine polishing of semiconductors, processing of hard metals and ceramics in quantum devices and heat dissipation in advanced electronic systems. Synthetic diamonds also have a dual purpose in the military, being used to make munitions and radar components.

In recent years, Korean cosmetics have made a big splash not only on the European but also on the global market. Shampoos, face masks, creams have also appeared in Bulgaria and have quickly become part of the daily routine of domestic consumers. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), South Korea exported cosmetics worth $3.61 billion for the period from January to April 2025 alone. These data show that the Asian country is overtaking the US and becoming the second largest exporter of cosmetics in the world after France. In fact, it is the US that imports more cosmetic products from South Korea than any other country, surpassing even China. The increase in exports by 15% to a record $5.5 billion in the first half of 2025 alone is largely the result of strong sales in the US and Europe, which is a prerequisite for the country to exceed $10 billion annually. On the other hand, the fifteen percent tariffs that Donald Trump imposed are causing some uncertainty. In an attempt to meet the new desires of consumers, Western companies are starting to include Korean ingredients such as rice water in their product formulas, and some are even "acquiring" Eastern brands. Thus, in late 2024, L'Oréal acquired a South Korean conglomerate that included the Dr.G brand, stating that the deal would help meet the growing demand for effective but affordable Korean cosmetics. On the other hand, intense competition causes low profits and a high rate of business bankruptcies. According to government data, over 8,800 cosmetic brands in the country have gone bankrupt in recent years. In December, the government officially recognized the cosmetics industry as a strategic national asset and promised policies to support production and stimulate exports, a vote of confidence in the sector, and investment as a guarantee that its global shine will continue to grow. In Bulgaria, Korean cosmetics are available both through online stores and in some drugstores. Facial cleansing products range between 12 and 25 euros depending on the brand and quantity. Creams can reach even higher values ​​- up to 40 euros, and serums are on average around 20-25 euros. Single face masks are at the lowest prices, in most cases between 2 and 5 euros. Hair products range between 10 and 25 euros in drugstores, and on specialized sites they reach 40 euros. Even Korean toothpaste and mouthwash are available, with the price of the former being around 4-6 euros, and the latter - 9-10 euros. The price of makeup does not differ much from that of the more famous global and even Bulgarian brands. Lip products (lipstick, balm, oil) and eyes (mascara, pencil) are found at prices from 6 to 17 euros.