Financial news

The deficit in Bulgaria’s summary budget for 2010 is BGN 2.8 billion, the Finance Ministry reported. The gap in the state budget is 3.9% of the country’s planned GDP. This is a much better score compared to the 2010 budget updated in the middle of the last year, which allowed for a deficit of 4.8%. Only in December 2010, the deficit in the state treasury reached BGN 934 million, which is the biggest monthly gap for the whole 2010. The revenues to the state budget for 2010 were fulfilled by over 100%, the Finance Ministry also informed. The final detailed data for the fulfillment of the budget for 2010 will be ready on January 31.

Bulgaria's annual inflation stood at 4.5% in December, maintaining a relatively high level despite the feeble economy, rising unemployment and lower consumption in 2010, showed the latest figures by the National Statistical Institute (NSI). Consumer prices were mainly fuelled by the hike in excise duty introduced at the start of 2010 and the soaring grain prices in the summer due to the global decline in crops globally, which translated into a rise in costs of food and fuels at the end of the year. While a far cry from the double-digit levels in before the crisis' outburst, the inflation rate is still a concern, since it is combined with frozen and even declining incomes in much of the private sector.

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

Privatization

The state-owned Technoexportstroy SPLTD should be written off the prohibitory list of companies banned from privatisation, decided yesterday the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee upon the adoption of the amendments to the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Act. The ban on the sale of State Laboratory Bulgarian Rose SPLTD and VMT-Orbita SPJSC will be revoked. These companies have minimal assets and are of no real importance to the economy, explained Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Evgeny Angelov. The companies in liquidation including Water Supply and Sewerage - Kyustendil SPJSC, Tsesi Invest SPLTD and Cartography SPLTD will be also removed from the prohibitive list. They will be replaced by the enterprises in liquidation involving Water Supply and Sewerage - Kyustendilska voda SPLTD and Water Supply and Sewerage - Pazardzhik SPLTD. The Specialized Hospital for Active Treatment in Traumatology, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine SPLTD will be also banned from privatisation.

Companies

Sweden’s industrial technology group Atlas Copco plans to move its production of light compaction equipment from Sweden to Buglaria. Atlas Copco has already started talks with trade unions regarding the relocation of its plant from Ljungby, in southern Sweden, to Bulgaria’s northeastern town of Ruse, the company said. Atlas Copco continuously reviews the manufacturing set-up to assure the group’s competitiveness. The considered plan is in line with our ambition to constantly improve the operational efficiency and make sure our production is cost competitive, Atlas Copco’s Business Area President for Construction and Mining Technique Bjorn Rosengren said. If the company’s plan is approved, the relocation could be finalized by the end of the year.

Bulgarian mobile operator Mobiltel said on Wednesday it had completed the acquisition of alternative fibre-optic network operator Spectrum Net and internet supplier Megalan Network after signing the final contracts concerning the deal. The company has already kicked off projects concerning the development of a new-generation optical network, which are currently going ahead on schedule, which will allow the company to offer innovative offers and bundled services to its consumers, according to the statement. Mobiltel unveiled plans to buy the two companies on September 15, 2010 in a deal cleared by the country's competition watchdog in December. The company agreed to pay a total of EUR 83 million for the businesses, including a performance-oriented element of EUR 14.5 million to be paid by the end of 2011.

Bulgarian media group Economedia said it sold its printing house Druzhba to local company Alliance Print. It was never our goal to enter permanently the printing Business, and it is a good thing that we can entrust this part of the production cycle of our newspapers and magazines to a reliable partner with expertise and potential in this business, Economedia's executive director Elitsa Angelova said on Wednesday. The price of the deal was not disclosed. Economedia will concentrate on the development of its media products, with a strategic focus on digital media, Angelova added. We are buying a successful business which helps us expand significantly the porfolio of services we offer and improve their speed, quality and efficiency, Alliance Print's owner and executive director, Ventsislav Bichakov, said. 

Tenders for road construction worth more than EUR 500 mln will be held in 2011. The National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) is expected to open tenders for contractors for seven lots, reads the institution's programme. A total of 35 companies have shown interest in building the road from Orizovo to Dimitrovgrad (Lot 1 of the motorway) and have purchased tender documents. Out of these, 19 candidates are Bulgarian companies and 16 - foreign enterprises. Ten Bulgarian and eight foreign companies have purchased tender documents for Lot 2 - the stretch from Dimitrovgrad to Harmanli. This makes 53 candidate bidders for the construction of the motorway. The construction of Maritsa motorway is expected to cost about EUR 209 mln. Part of the funding (about EUR 160 mln) will be provided under Operational Programme Transport and the balance of nearly EUR 50 mln - by the State.

The workers from the Shipyard Rousse JSC have declared civil disobedience after they haven't received their salaries for three months. The workers rallied in the yard of the plant demanding their pay for October, November, and December 2010, and protesting the intermittent delays of their salaries that they saw in 2010, stating that in the same period the shipbuilding company completed four new ships. They said the management would usually give them advance payments of BGN 100 in order to make them go to work, and would then forget to pay them their actual salaries; they made it clear they would not resume work until they get all due salaries. Dozens of workers are reported to have already left the plant despite the unemployment precisely because of the irregular payments. The Shipyard Rousse has been warned by the Labor Inspectorate to pay all overdue salaries by January 14.

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

Europe

The European Commission pressed governments to slice deficits and step up tough structural reforms when it kicked off a new era of tighter EU-wide economic governance. "We are setting out to break new ground and to decisively improve the way in which we manage and coordinate our interdependent economies in the European Union," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The move to tighten coordination across the 27-nation bloc, which includes the 17 eurozone states, aims to secure recovery on the heels of the global crisis, but more particularly break the manic cycle of debt drama and turbulence unsettling Europe. As a first step, the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, issued a first-ever Annual Growth Survey setting out 10 priorities, from reining in public debt to labour market reform "to return Europe to growth and higher employment," Barroso said.

America

U.S. import prices jumped in December as energy costs surged, a sign that while inflation may be tame domestically there are plenty of price pressures coming from overseas. Import prices rose 1.1 percent, just beneath economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll, following a revised 1.5 percent increase in November. Prices were up 4.8 percent for 2010 as a whole, according to the Labor Department data released on Wednesday. Petroleum import prices climbed 3.9 percent, while non-petroleum costs rose just 0.4 percent. Export prices advanced 0.7 percent after a 1.5 percent gain in November. They were up 6.5 percent in 2010, the highest in records dating back to 1983. A low inflation environment in the United States has allowed the Federal Reserve to maintain a very loose monetary policy, but a recent spike in global energy and commodity prices has raised some concern that cost pressures might pick up.

Asia

China has banned imports of German pork and egg goods after tests last week had revealed levels of dioxin at 77 times the permitted level in animal feed. The country has ceased imports of "German-produced edible pork and egg products" China's product safety watchdog said in a statement. The authorities will also inspect goods shipped from Germany before the ban was imposed to see if they are safe. Previously only South Korea had banned German pork imports. Slovakia had halted sales of German eggs and poultry meat, even though Germany has said there is no immediate risk to human health. The Chinese ban was effective from 11 January, said the country's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). Shipments already on the way to China and that arrive after 11 January will have to be tested for dioxin.

Historical place Kostina

The historical place Kostina is located some 4 km away from Ribaritsa (Teteven region). Kostina is the place of death of Georgi Benkovski – Bulgarian revolutionary from the National Revival. On May 15, 1876 the leader of the April Uprising was betrayed and killed here. In the falling night he was shot by the waiting Ottoman policemen, while trying to cross the bridge above the Kostina river. He was dead shot and beheaded. The Ottomans washed his head in the Karvavo kladenche (Bloody well), named this way because of the events that happened here, and gave it to the betrayer to carry it. Ten years later Valyo, the betrayer, made a wooden cross, and placed it on where Benkovski was shot. Zachari Stoyanov, another leader of the Uprising and friend of Benkovksi, carved on the beech growing nearby, the initials G.B. The beech was cut down in 1950 when rebuilding the monument of Benkovksi. Each year on May 25 the district becomes a scene of commemorative evens. Actors reproduce the happenings just before Georgi Benkovski died.

On that day:  Georgi Kaloyanchev Haskovo mineral water baths