Financial news

The International Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Commission differ in growth expectations of Bulgaria’s GDP in 2011 – predicting 2%, 2.4% and 2.6% respectively, as the consensus prognosis is for 2.6%.The optimism of this prognosis is shared mostly by Bulgaria’s government and not so much by business, said Kristofor Pavlov, Chief Economist of UniCredit Bulbank. Households are also skeptical about the prospects of the Bulgarian economy. At the same time investors are doubtful about the possibility that growth rates will reach their potential estimated at about 4% y/y in 2011. What are the most frequently quoted reasons for that? The still high levels of available production capacities indicate that the investments in fixed capital will increase at a slower pace.

Bulgaria's end-2010 jobless rate rose to 9.24% from 9.07% at the end of November and 9.13% at the end of 2009, official data showed on Tuesday. The number of unemployed totalled 342,419 at the end of December, up 6,449 from a month earlier, the government's Employment Agency said in a statement. Official job vacancies totalled 5,549 at the end of December, down by 1,193 from a year earlier. A total of 6,904 unemployed Bulgarians were hired last month. The number of newly-registered jobless people rose by 4,855 to 33,972 in December. In September, Labour Minister Totyu Mladenov said the jobless rate is unlikely to exceed 10% this year. In 2009, Bulgaria's average unemployment rate was 7.59%. Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, has a population of 7.6 million.

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Companies

The owners of Bulgarian transport company Union Ivkoni, Ivaylo Konstantinov and Svetlozar Lyubenov, have decided to roll-out a petrol station chain in the country of the Swiss Avia brand, Konstantinov told on Tuesday. The company has already put on stream the chain's first fuel retail unit, located on Sofia's Danail Nikolaev boulevard, with another two to be unveiled by the end of the year. Union Ivkoni will invest a total EUR 100 mln in the project, expecting to operate a total 80 petrol stations by the end of 2018, he said. Konstantinov and Lyubenov have sealed a contract to represent Avia for a period of three years through Bulgaria-registered company Uni Energy. The entity has already purchased several sites on which the petrol stations will be constructed, with their development to be financed with own funds at this stage, Konstantinov added.

The National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) announced the introduction of a new administrative and management structure. The changes project a reduction of its regional offices from 19 to 9. Thus, redundant positions and units in the administrative service of regions will be eliminated. Five new railway sections in Sofia, Plovdiv, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Shumen and Vratsa will be set up in the new administrative structure. A new structure called “Mechanised Railway Section” will be established in Pleven. The existing units of “Signalling and Telecommunications” in Sofia, Plovdiv, Gorna Oryahovitsa and the central department will be united in a separate unit of the same name.

The Czech-owned power utility CEZ, which services western Bulgaria, officially introduced their new Regional Manager – former Czech Ambassador to Sofia, Petr Dokladal. Dokladal was Ambassador to Sofia from 2001 to 2006, and has received Bulgaria's highest order, Stara Planina, for his service to bilateral relations. CEZ announced plans to reshuffle their leadership in Bulgaria in mid-December, but the changes became effective on January 1, after Dokladal's term as Czech Ambassador to Romania expired.The company further informed they have invested in Bulgaria over BGN 222 mln between 2008 and 2010 as part of the 5-year investment program, approved by the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, for the total amount of BGN 352 mln. In the last two years of the program, BGN 130 mln would be used for improvements in the electric network. In 3 years, CEZ has paid BGN 40 mln in corporate taxes.

Bulgarian copper mining company Asarel Medet will invest at least BGN 3 mln in the construction of a sports hall in the town of Panagyurishte where it is based. The company signed a public-private partnership agreement with the town located in southern Bulgaria for the building of a multi-purpose sports hall. Initial estimates put the project's cost between BGN 3 mln and BGN 5 mln. The Panagyurishte municipality will provide a plot of land in the town park as an in-kind contribution. Construction works are expected to start next year and the completion of the project is scheduled for 2013.

More than 40 petrol stations have been closed by the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) because they have failed to link their tills electronically to the agency. Starting from January 8, all cash registers in petrol stations were supposed to be wired directly to the NRA, a strategy which aims to curtail illegal contraband, and funnel between BGN 250-300 million into the state Budget. But hours after the measure came into effect, 40 petrol stations either failed to have their tills linked, and were subsequently ordered to close, or simply did not bother to open for business at all because they were unprepared. According to the report, in the next few days, all petrol stations in Bulgaria will be investigated by agents, who have vowed to fine establishments up to BGN 10,000 if they flout the new regulations. Alternatively, they could be closed for business altogether.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF THE EU SINGLE MARKET ACT. DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS AND COMMENTS – 28 FEBRUARY 2011

Europe

EFG Eurobank, Greece's second-largest lender, expects profit from its operations in south east and central Europe to double this year, its chief executive said. Greek banks ventured into the relatively underbanked Balkan markets to secure growth, but the difficulties brought on by the country's debt crisis have led some to reduce stakes abroad to raise cash and beef up capital adequacy. "We remain profitable with a positive and growing trend in new Europe. We estimate profit from new Europe will double (this year)," CEO Nick Nanopoulos told reporters. Outside Greece, Eurobank has operations in Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, Cyprus and Ukraine. Profit from these reached 19 million euros in the first nine months of 2010. Overall, Eurobank's nine-month net profit fell 78.5 percent to 60 million, broadly in line with consensus.

America

Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, reported its highest profit in nine quarters after the price of the metal approached pre-recession levels. The shares fell after sales missed analysts’ estimates. Net income of $258 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $277 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier, Alcoa said today in a statement. Sales gained 4 percent to $5.65 billion from $5.43 billion, missing the $5.75 billion average estimate of seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Alcoa, which advanced 27 percent in the quarter, fell 1.6 percent after the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange. “This is not a blow-it-out-of-the-park quarter,” Jorge Beristain, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG in Greenwich, Connecticut, said in a telephone interview. The profit is Alcoa’s biggest since the third quarter of 2008, when commodities began to tumble after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September that year.

Asia

China's central bank says its foreign reserves, already the world's biggest, soared to $2.8 trillion at the end of 2010. Tuesday's announcement came as Beijing faces demands by Washington and others to ease currency controls that have swelled its reserves. The reserves rose $199 billion during the final quarter of the year and were up 18 percent over a year earlier. The reserves have soared as Beijing controls the exchange rate of its yuan by buying up money that flows into China. Washington and others complain that keeps the yuan undervalued, giving Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage and hurting foreign competitors.

Steneto Natural Reserve

The biosphere reserve Steneto is located in the Troyan mountain, in the upper stream of the Cherni Osam river. It was proclaimed as a natural reserve on April 5 1979. It was established to preserve the nature in the majestic gorge Steneto and is included in UNESCO’s “Man and Biosphere” programme. The reserve is a home of the greatest variety of forest and rock birds on the Balkans. Steneto is also the area most densely inhabited by brown bears in Bulgaria, and Bulgaria has been acknowledged as one of the most important bear areas in Europe. In the past, the bear was one of the most popular big mammals in Stara Planina. The Karst region of the reserve is strewn with many caves, including Kumanitza – one of the longest water caves in Bulgaria (1656 m) and Raychova dupka (377m) – the deepest cave in Bulgaria.

On that day:  Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana of Rome – January 12