Financial news

Bulgaria managed to balance its books in October, preliminary data about the consolidated budget of the finance ministry show. Revenue exceeded spending by about BGN 8 million. Budget revenue totalled BGN 1.996 billion, spending amounted to BGN 1.988 billion, down 9% on September. Final data about the budget performance will be published at the end of November. A few days ago prime minister Boyko Borissov said the government has balanced the budget by raising revenue by nearly BGN 55 million and cutting down on spending by BGN 25 million, year on year. He defined that as an important sign for businesses, investors and Bulgaria's eurozone entry.

The ongoing debate on Minister Dyankov’s idea for depositing part of the state reserve in commercial banks leads to a couple of conclusions. First of all, banks do not need liquidity as interest rates on the interbank market have plunged to levels of around 0.58%. Besides, BIR (Base Interest Rate) has also been decreasing lately. So, it seems banks have trimmed their lending portfolios not because there was no money, but because there weren’t any good business projects around. Secondly, injecting money into the bank system won’t bring down interest rates, as the latter depend on risk levels.

	Mineral Fuels, Tailoring Products, Canning, Perfumery and Cosmetics, Furniture, Meat Products, Wine, Wood-processing Industry

Concessions

The airport in the city of Vidin would be given on concession, not sold, said the regional governor Plamen Stefanov. The documentation for the sale of the airport had been prepared by the predecessor of Stefanov and given to him in the change of seats.

Companies

National Company Railway Infrastructure will receive BGN 16 million to pay salaries, said Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Alexander Tsvetkov. On Wednesday the government decided to allocate funds to the infrastructure company. This is the second installment to the railways after a month ago the government allowed to be given BGN 7 million for salaries. The anticrisis  program of the company provides a reduction in wages and their payment of the full amount next year.

The Council of Ministers took a decision to back Shumen Municipality as bind Bulgargaz to feed with gas Heat Supply-Shumen in view of the current aggravated flu situation. This is what Minister of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov said after a meeting of the Mayor of Shumen and Prime Minister Boyyko Borisov. Heat Supply-Shumen has been aggravating its condition for years, Traicho Traikov said. Collection of liabilities from the subscribers is very poor.

The bank interests on credits and deposits will go down, economists and financiers are explicit. Earlier, PM Boyko Borissov stated he had appealed to the banks to reduce the interests though he was aware he could not interfere in their business. Economic and financial experts are certain that the reason for the drop in the value of credits will have a favourable effect for the improvement of the business climate in Bulgaria. Bankers expressed readiness to discuss the issue with the reduction of interests. But they have demanded an easier access to the budget resource - relieved conditions for securitisation of the state funds they receive.

Bulgaria’s mutual fund market notched up gains for a seventh month in a row, with managed assets swelled by slightly over 5% on a monthly basis to roughly BGN 358 million, showed figures of the asset managers’ association. Factoring the assets run by foreign schemes brings the total to BGN 528 million, or less than 1% from the projected GDP for 2009. The growth was fuelled by large amounts pumped into a number of funds and bulls running loose on both the local and the foreign capital markets since the spring.

The workers of Bulgaria’s bankrupt steel mill Kremikovtzi are awaiting delayed salaries and social security payments totaling BGN 56 M. This has been found by the Mission for protecting the rights of the workers at the plant set up in October 2009. The salaries and welfare payments are due for the period from December 2008 until September 2009. In addition to the above sum, another BGN 9,4 M of compensations under the Collective Labor Contract have also been delayed.

Bulgarian Posts will be restructured and stabilised financially, minister of transport and ICT Alexandar Tsvetkov said. The changes will help Bulgaria meet its commitments to the European Union for liberalisation of the sector and giving all citizens access to the universal postal service at reasonable prices. The amendments made to the Postal Services Act were aimed at opening the market to private companies and modernising services, Tsvetkov pointed out. Bulgarian Posts will be split into five subsidiaries in which the state will keep 51%. That will secure fresh capital without the future investors having to own assets, as they will get dividends from the subsidiaries.

Europe

Unilever NV, maker of Dove soaps and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, saw net profit fall 36 percent for the third quarter, mostly because earnings in the same period a year ago benefited from the sale of operations. The consumer goods giant made EUR 1.05 billion, down from EUR 1.64 billion in the same period last year, when Unilever booked a EUR 487 million gain on the sale of its seasonings businesses. Revenues were down 1.9 percent to euro10.2 billion. Despite the fall in profit, Chief Executive Paul Polman said the results showed "good progress across all regions and the majority of countries and categories" when compared with the second quarter.

America

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said the company could look to extend its search engine partnership with Yahoo outside the United States, if it gets regulatory approval. Earlier this year Microsoft and Yahoo signed a 10-year Web search partnership to challenge Google Inc, a pact that U.S. and European antitrust regulators are evaluating. "We will have to wait and see if we can get approval and consummate that partnership inside the U.S. first." Microsoft has said it believes the deal will close in early 2010, and that they can make significant progress on integration in one or two major markets next year.

Asia

Lenovo Group Ltd., China’s biggest maker of personal computers, reported second-quarter profit increased more than analysts estimated after the company cut jobs and sold assets. Net income doubled to $53.1 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, from $23.4 million a year earlier. Profit, including a $38.7 million gain from the sale of investments, beat the $24 million median estimate. Lenovo outpaced Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s largest PC maker, in shipment growth last quarter as government subsidies boosted sales in China. The maker of Thinkpad laptops rebounded from three consecutive quarterly losses after it cut most of its employees in the U.S. and Europe to focus on emerging markets.

Regional Museum of History – Veliko Tarnovo

The Regional Museum of History in Veliko Tarnovo is the oldest and the biggest historical museum outside Sofia. It was established in 1871. The fund of the museum keeps over 200,000 exhibits of the high antiquity to the newest history. Some of them are unique for national and European history – the Hotnishko Gold (the oldest gold in the world), golden decorations from Thracian tombs, golden and silver coins of different rulers, marble statues, medieval ring-seals, wall-paints from medieval churches, masterpiece of the Christian arts from 12th to 19th century, Nedelnik written by Sofronii of Vratsa, collections of medals, honors, coins, seals, signs; ethnography collections of jewellery, cloths, pottery; ritual goods and etc. Some of them are presented in the exhibitions, preserved areas, house-museums, and the collections: Architectural museum preserved area Tsarevets (picture in the left ), Archeological museum, National Revival and Constitutive National Assembly museum, New History museum, the Sarafkina house, the house-museum of P.R.Slaveikov, the churches St. Dimitar of Thessaloniki, and St. Apostles Peter and Pavel, Architectural museum preserved area Arbanasi, and others.

On that day:  Neofit Rilski House-Museum