Financial news

Lower oil prices boost real economy and increase consumers’ income but they have a negative impact on the state budget, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) concluded in its analysis on the Economic and Financial Effects of Oil Price Declines, published in the quarterly Economic Review. BNB experts believe that if oil prices remain unchanged at their January level of USD 55 per barrel, this will have a positive impact on trade in Bulgaria. In addition, this will enhance private consumption, investments and export of goods and services. The cut in petroleum product prices will have a direct effect on VAT receipts from domestic consumption of fuels. Quantitative effects on total VAT receipts will depend on the degree to which the consumer price inflation and real consumption are impacted by lower fuel prices.

Bulgaria is the greatest outsourcing destination in Europe, according to consuting company Cushman&Wakefield’s rating for 2015. Worldwide our country takes the third place. As compared to last year our country has gone up by 11 positions. The company’s research encompasses 36 markets worldwide that attract companies in the sphere of outsourcing and business process operations. The assessment of the participants in the ranking is based on three types of criteria, among which most important are costs, conditions for business and risks. The first position in Cushman&Wakefield’s rating is held by Vietnam, while the last year winner-Romania takes the fourth place. Philippines are the second most desired destination for investment in BPO.

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

Concessions

Heat Supply Sofia SPJSC will be given in concession. This is what municipal advisers voted in favour of at the meeting of the Municipal Council that took place on the 12 of March. The decision is taken with a view of better functioning of the company. Grant Thornton that was hired to make analysis for Heat Supply Sofia SPJSC’s state prepared a report stating that public-private partnership via conducting a concession procedure is the best method. The concession will allow, on the one hand, to use the resources of the private partner, and on the other, the town hall will receive concession fee with which debts to BEH will be covered.

First drilling at the Khan Asparuh block in the Black Sea, where significant gas deposits are though to lie, are now scheduled for February 2016. Finding vast gas fields was quite likely given that neighboring Romania had found some 80 billion cubic meters just 15 km from the Bulgarian border, or near Bulgaria's section of the block. Bucharest earlier declared the estimated amount was between 40 and 80 bcm, numbers roughly confirmed by Petrom and ExxonMobil which discovered a deposit of 42-84 bcm in 2012. A consortium of Total (France), OMV (Austria) and Repsol (Spain) was due to start drilling this year, but in December announced it would postpone its operation, citing budgetary restrictions.

Companies

Hewlett-Packard Global Delivery Center will open in April a new technological lab in Bulgaria. The investment is assessed to nearly BGN 10 million. The new acquisition of the center for outsourcing services to the US company will be able to provide virtual simulations and demonstrations of various technologies and business ideas. HP’s new technological lab will be the technological giant’s biggest in Eastern Europe. It will be aimed at testing different models in a virtual environment and subsequently their application in practice. The lab emulates real market environment, as it renders different indicators of supply and demand and other factors and how this will affect a company. In this way it becomes clear where the company makes mistakes, where it acts in the right way and how different solutions, developed by HP can be applied. The lab will be a testing place as well, where HP’s highest technologies can be exposed and demonstrated. Three types of specialists will be hired in the new lab: IT experts, business analysts, together with experts with ideas that may develop innovation through technology rendered. The lab won’t be separate department of HP’s. Moreover, it will help the company develop the skill it needs to.

Rubber grenades, new developments of a machine gun and light machine gun, using ammunition with NATO and Eastern caliber are just some of the exhibits that Kazanlak armory Arsenal will show at the international exhibition in Abu Dhabi, which began on Sunday. In the capital city of United Arab Emirates the newest technologies in the military sphere will be exposed. At an area of 30 square meters our company will present its recent developments, used both in fight with mass unrest and in local armed conflicts. In the last few years Arsenal has distinguished itself as the biggest producer and exporter of specialized products in Southeast Europe. The company has been a traditional participant in this exhibition since 1999. This year it involved 1034 companies. Arsenal's management expects that several new long-term contracts will be signed after its completion.

Bulgaria’s Energy and Water Regulatory Commission discussed the natural gas price proposals of state-run Bulgargaz SPJSC for the second quarter of the year. Bulgargaz proposed 13.17% lower price compared with the first quarter of 2015 –BGN 523.72 per cubic hectometre (VAT, excise duty not included). Natural gas price cut may reach 10% depending on the type of the power plant and it will be mostly for the end-consumers. The principle in the formation of the separate prices for the different heating utilities and factory plants, using natural gas, is to compensate for their loss as a result of the lack of changes in the natural gas price over the past quarters, when it was increasing. Debts to the state-run Bulgargaz from the different consumers amounted at around BGN 200 million. Bulgargaz company’s request for decrease of the natural gas price for the second quarter of 2015 is due to the fact that the sale price of the US dollar is BGN 1.80, accounted at the currency course of BGN 1.66. Under this rate, the sale price of the natural gas of Bulgargaz will turn lower than the expenses on the natural gas purchase. According to initial estimations, this negative result amounts to more than BGN 30 million.

Gas connection between Bulgaria and Greece will be entirely funded by European means. The value of this interconnector will be EUR 220 million. The European commission has made it clear that the project will be funded with European money. The gas connection between Bulgaria and Greece was partially funded with EUR 45 million by the European commission back in 2009 under the European Energy Programme for Recovery. In May the final investment decision has to be made either. Shareholders in the project have equal shares. They are Greek DEPA, Italian Edison and Bulgarian energy holding. Construction of pipeline should be completed by the end of 2017 and came into operation in 2018. In that way Azeri gas will come to Bulgaria from the Trans-Anatolian pipeline whose construction was announced a week ago.

It can not be definitively said yet, but the alleged amount of trotyl, which exploded in the village of Iganovo was over 1,000 kilograms. That is what Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior Georgi Kostov said after a sitting of the Crisis Staff in place of the blast at the warehouse of the Vazov Machine Works JSC (VMZ)-Sopot. Meanwhile pre-trial proceedings have been initiated against unknown perpetrator on the case of the blast at the warehouse of the company. There is no threat of new explosion

Europe

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded Nigeria further into junk territory, citing the effect of sharply lower oil prices and political challenges from the militant group Boko Haram. S&P affirmed its negative watch, which indicates the possibility of further downgrades. Nigeria is to hold general elections on March 28. The election, originally scheduled for Feb. 14, was delayed amid concerns as the military said it couldn’t spare the soldiers to safeguard the election amid its protracted battle with Boko Haram. In separate actions, S&P upgraded Hungary’s credit rating one notch to double-B-plus, one level below investment grade, revised its outlook on Portugal to positive from stable, which indicates a possible upgrade. Oil and gas account for about 70% of Nigeria’s fiscal revenue and more than 90% of its exports, S&P said, projecting the African nation to run a current-account deficit, on average, of 1.8% of gross domestic product for the three-year span through 2017, compared with its earlier view of a surplus of 3.3%.

America

The Obama administration unveiled the nation’s first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, a technique for oil and gas drilling that has led to a significant increase in American energy production but has also raised concerns about health and safety risks. The Interior Department began drafting the rules, focused on drilling safety, in Mr. Obama’s first term after breakthroughs in the technology, also known as fracking, led to a surge in the production of oil and gas. The fracking boom has put the United States on track to soon become the world’s largest oil and gas producer. But environmentalists fear that the technique, which involves injecting a cocktail of chemicals deep underground to break up the rocks around oil and gas deposits, could contaminate surrounding water supplies and wildlife. As the practice of fracking has soared, fights over how and whether to regulate it have broken out across the country.

Asia

Switzerland and Luxembourg are planning to join the Beijing-backed development bank AIIB, China's finance ministry said, the latest European nations to sign up to the multilateral lender which has drawn scepticism from the United States. Britain, France, Germany and Italy have already announced their intentions to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank -- which is viewed by some as a competitor to the World Bank and the Manila-based Asian Development Bank. Switzerland will formally become a founding member of the bank later this month if approved by other members, China's finance ministry said in a statement late Friday. A separate ministry statement said Luxembourg had also applied. China's finance chief Lou Jiwei on Friday said the bank had 27 "prospective" founding members, the official Xinhua news agency reported, adding the application deadline is March 31.

Boyana Church

During the Middle Ages the strong Bulgarian fortress of Boyana (Batil) stood on the lower slopes of Mount Vitosha in what is now the Sofia suburb of Boyana. This name is mentioned for the firs time in 969. Boyana was one of the thirty-five fortresses and settlements, which formed the fortification systems of the city of Sredets (Sofia). The Boyana Church was build within the fortress and is a magnificent example of medieval architecture and monumental art.
The Boyana Church is about 900 years old. During its existence, the Church has undergone many transformation and extensions, and thus its present complex volume differs considerably from the original. New buildings have been added to the First (East) Church, architectural transformations have been made, the decoration has been changed. At present the Boyana Church consists buildings - from the 11th, 13th and 19th centuries. Only the first two churches, built during the Middle Ages, possess significant aesthetic and architectural value.

On that day:  Village of Lopyan