Financial news

The fiscal reserve as of December 31, 2014 is BGN 9.2 billion, including BGN 8.1 billion deposits of the fiscal reserve at BNB and banks and BGN 1.1 billion claims on the funds of the European Union for the certified costs and other advances. According to data from the monthly reports, the consolidated fiscal program (CFP) for 2014 was negative at BGN 3048.2 million (3.7% of projected GDP), announced the Ministry of Finance. Revenues and grants under the CFP for 2014 amounted to BGN 29,406.8 million or 98.1% of the estimates for Amending the Budget 2014. Total tax revenues (incl. Income from social security contributions) for 2014 amounted to BGN 23 028.2 million, which represents 98.8% of the annual revenue in the revised estimates. In structural terms, revenues from social and health insurance contributions exceed the annual target and largely offset the lagging revenues from VAT, due to which the tax revenues under the CFP are close to the planned after the updated estimates for the year.

Bulgaria’s finance ministry has abandoned its plans to issue BGN 400 million worth of short-term government bonds, which was initially planned for February, over reports of a BGN 85-million surplus in state coffers in January 2015. This is the first time the state budget registers a surplus since 2009. Short-term tapping of the bond markets has been a commonplace for the country throughout 2014. Last year the amount of those government debts reached the staggering BGN 2.4 billion. Much of the money was used to cover the liquidity gap in First Investment Bank (Fibank) – BGN 1.2 billion.

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Companies

France-based credit insurer Euler Hermes said it has opened an office in Bulgaria to service small and large companies in the country. “Growth markets in Eastern Europe are an increasing focus for our European clients and the Sofia office adds to our ability to provide them with local market business intelligence for safe, sustainable growth,” Ludovic Senecaut, Euler Hermes CEO for Northern Europe, said. The company is active in Bulgaria since July 2014 and is already servicing 3,500 clients. “We are currently covering EUR 1 billion of transactions [in Bulgaria],” Senecaut said. “There are over 700,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bulgaria and we've estimated 100,000 of those would need trade credit insurance,” David Nolan, commercial director at the company, said during the press conference.

Bulgarian company under the name of Biodrinks has created an organic drink from herbs. It has started its production from the end of last year and the product is already in sale. The enterprise is founded by Eleonora Negulova, Aleksi Aleksov and Nikolay Arnaudski. Two of the owners have long time experience in production of high alcoholic drinks, as in the 90ies they stand behind the brand Doctor’s. In 2005 they sold their business and turned to a totally new segment-that of organic juices. Thus a company for production of the juice is founded. The product’s development is funded with BGN 360 thousand under European program Competitiveness. The drinks’ manufacturing is done in the Pernik village of Tsurkva in an enterprise with a capacity of 100 thousand bottles a month. The juices’ technology is entirely made up by the company’s partners. Herbs are delivered from registered organic producers and are extracted at low temperature and then are kept in the caps’ container. Juices from grapefruit, strawberry, lemon and natural rose water that are imported from certified suppliers from abroad are also added. Design of all other materials though is made by Bulgarian companies.

GO Grill now has nearly 70 sites and is in the top 100 of the most prosperous small companies in Bulgaria Gorna Oryahovitsa’s grill becomes popular in Romania. GO GRILL opened its first sites in Bucharest, after having almost 70 in Bulgaria. The company, whose production base is located in Lyaskovets, supports 300 jobs and is now in the top 100 of the most prosperous small businesses in the country. The company is eyeing the market in Romania, as Romanians love native cuisine and therefore often come to Bulgaria, including in the region of Veliko Tarnovo and Arbanassi. The company GO Grill is entirely own business of the brothers Miroslav and Stefan Velkovs. At present the entire business is structured on the principle of franchising. The design of the pavilions is the same and the offered products are made in workshops near Lyaskovets.

Bulgarian tobacco group Bulgartabac Holding said its preliminary non-consolidated net profit dropped by more than 97% to BGN 2.2 million in 2014. Non-consolidated revenues were down by BGN 3.75 million to BGN 61 million last year, Bulgartabac Holding said in a preliminary financial report. The company's non-consolidated operating profit amounted to BGN 3.8 million in 2014, down by 95.6% from the previous year. Earnings per share also dropped to BGN 0.3 in 2014 from BGN 10.98 in 2013.

Europe

Three of Greece's four major banks have started to tap emergency funding from the Greek central bank as some depositors have withdrawn their money due to political uncertainty, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday. Greek banks are facing a new crisis after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's left-wing government stormed to power last week with a pledge to abandon a bailout lifeline keeping the country afloat. Tightening liquidity conditions ahead of a Jan. 25 election prompted the Bank of Greece to ask the European Central Bank to approve the emergency liquidity line for all of the country's top lenders - National, Piraeus, Alpha and Eurobank. The ECB, which approved the emergency funding line for two weeks, is due to reassess the situation on Wednesday in what could be a tense meeting. Germany's Bundesbank is critical of Greece's use of such funding as it believes it could be used to support the government by soaking up its new short-term debt issuance which might otherwise be hard or more costly to sell.

America

US President Barack Obama requested nearly $170 million to respond to alleged Russian interference in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in his 2016 budget proposal submitted on Monday. “To increase resilience within the governments and economies most targeted by Russian pressure, the Budget provides an additional $117 million in foreign assistance funds directed specifically toward countering Russian aggressive acts in Ukraine, and $51 million for countering Russian pres-sure and destabilizing activities in Moldova and Georgia,” according to the budget proposal. The budget also includes funds to bolster NATO and Ukraine to prevent further Russian pressure in the region, the White House said. In response to the Russian Federation’s aggressive acts, the Budget includes proposals for political, economic, and military support to NATO allies and partner states in Europe, including the governments most targeted by Russian pressure,” the White House said.

Asia

China's capital account deficit widened sharply in the last quarter of 2014 as domestic companies expanded investment overseas. The capital and financial account deficit was 91.2 billion US dollars for three months ending in December, compared with the third quarter's 9 billion dollars, according to preliminary statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on Tuesday. China posted deficit on its capital and financial account for three consecutive quarters due to rapid increases in overseas investment and speculation of further depreciation of the yuan, the country's currency, analysts said. Wen Bin, chief researcher at China Minsheng Bank, said capital and financial account deficit may become a "new normal" as the country faces pressure from capital outflows amid expectation of a weaker yuan. China reported a current account surplus of 61.1 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter last year, narrowing from 72.2 billion dollars posted in the third quarter, the SAFE said.

Sokolna natural reserve

The Sokolna natural reserve is located near the villages of Skobelevo and Asen, in the Pavel Banya municipality. It occupies an area of 1250 hectares, and covers a part of the mountain massif Triglav and the valley of the river Sokolna. It was officially proclaimed natural reserve on July 11 1979, and represents one of Bulgaria’s natural botanic gardens. Here, there are more than 600 species of plants, 40 of which are rare or endangered – the Stara Planina primrose, the Stara Planina edelweiss, the Bulgarian rock dill, etc. Sokolna is also the home of a variety ot trees, such as beech, oak, hornbeam, sycamore, etc. The animal world is represented by wild goats, bears, owls, woodpeckers. Some of the interesting bird species inhabiting the place are the rock eagle, hunting falcon, hawks, etc.

On that day:  The House of Chorbadji Paskal in Haskovo