Financial news

According to the second estimate of Eurostat, Bulgaria's GDP growth surpassed the EU average in the first quarter of 2015. The country's GDP in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 0.9 % compared to the previous quarter, while there was a 2 % growth compared to the same quarter in 2014. GDP in the EU registered a growth of 0.4 % in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 1.5 % compared to the same quarter in 2014. The member states registering the highest growth in the first quarter of 2015 were the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Romania, followed by Bulgaria and Spain, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia. The GDP decreased in four member states – Lithuania, Estonia, Greece and Finland. As regards the components of GDP, household final consumption expenditure increased by 0.5 % in the EU, gross fixed capital formation also grew by 0.8 %, there was 0.6 % increase in exports, while imports rose by 1.4 %. Household final consumption expenditure and gross fixed formation had both positive contribution to GDP growth.

The Parliamentary Committee for Budget and Finance unanimously adopted the removal of bank privacy. This became a fact after voting on the draft bill to the Credit Institutions Act. The news was announced by Desislava Atanasova, MP with the mandate-holder Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB), who also added that the amendments were also passed by the Legal Committee. Desislava Atanasova told journalist that everyone wants the truth to come out. “The Ministry of Finance had sent a statement in support of the draft bill. The leadership of the Bulgarian National Bank has expressed certain reserves on the bill. Ivan Iskrov [current Governor of the Bulgarian central bank] has signed a statement that the term for announcement of all information and data must be at least one year,” Atanasova said. She added that one year is too much time and there would be no public tolerance for such a term.

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Concessions

A US company has shown interest in becoming a concessionaire of Airport Gorna Oryahovitsa, according to Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski. Moskovski, as cited by Capital daily, told the parliamentary transport committee that the investment intention notice of the company, which had been submitted to the Transport Ministry, envisaged a plan to keep the current functions of the international airport. He said that the company also wanted to establish a production facility for recycling aircraft that could create 500-600 jobs. Moskovski made clear that the preparation of analyses of the concession had been launched. According to reports of Airport Gorna Oryahovitsa, adequate investments in the runway, the buildings, and the equipment could make it an attractive site for low-cost companies, cargo and business aviation.

Companies

Construction of the 7th reactor of NPP Kozloduy will cost USD 5.3 billion, it emerged during a conference at the Ministry of energy between special envoy of Secretary of State John Kerry Amos Hochstein and Bulgarian Minister of energy Temenuzhka Petkova. The specific amount is the final price of the contract. The participation of NPP Kozloduy in building the future power capacity will amount to USD 400 million. WE recall that yesterday the Special Representative of the US Secretary of State Amos Hochstein arrived in Bulgaria. He met with the Minister of Energy, President Rosen Plevneliev, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and they discussed the diversification of natural gas supplies to Bulgaria.

Austrian OMV has interest in transferring natural gas through Bulgaria, if reserves are found in the deposit which is being analyzed together with ExxonMobil in Romania’s territory waters in the Black sea. The idea is about 1-2 billion cubic meters of gas annually to be transferred through the interconnectors gas link between Bulgaria and Romania, which has not yet been entered into exploitation. The reason for the interest in transit of gas via the Bulgarian gas network was prompted by the lack of well-developed gas infrastructure in Romania. Part of transit quantities can even remain in Bulgaria if Bulgargaz or other distribution companies show interest in such a deal. Three candidates showed interest in the pre-project research for construction of interconnector link between Bulgaria and Turkey. These are: Chimcomplect Engineering, which was the designer for the construction of Nabucco, which never started, Gastech BG, which is owned by Overgas Holding and makes feasibility study of the gas link with Serbia and Burgasnefteproekt, owned by Lukoil.

Construction of the stunning oceanaruim in Burgas, assessed to BGN 100 million has been postponed several times. Now there is stir up around the project. The plot is being cleaned up. The main participant though, Russian company Mostovic went bankrupt and now a new investor is being sought. The project announced back in 2013 is made up by Union Mostovic Burgas, which includes based in Omsk company Scientific Manufacturing union Mostovic and Bulgarian Water Attractions Company Plus. A week ago Omsk regional arbitrary court announced bankruptcy of Mostovic-one of the largest construction companies in Russia and opened a procedure for insolvency. The Bulgarian company said that they are still in search of funds for the project. Oceanarium’s design is still in a project phase. The term for construction of the elements of public interest- Dolphinarium, Oceanarium, entertainment and cognitive complex and water park, is five years starting from 06.19.2013. The deadline for the full completion of construction and installation work is seven years, which means that the project has to be fully completed in 2020.

Bulgaria's competition regulator said it has sent power supplier Energo-Pro Sales a statement of objection alleging that it abused its dominant position by refusing service to a local company. Energo-Pro Sales and another unit of Czech energy company Energo-Pro - power distributor Energo-Pro Grid, refused to restore power supply to an industrial facility owned by Gotar Investment due to the poor state of the technical network, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said. According to the regulator, this unjustified decision constitutes unequal treatment of a company in respect to the other electricity consumers in the area to whom Energo-Pro Sales has been supplying power in a technically identical situation. The regulator also said that Energo-Pro Sales does not apply clear criteria in its choice of clients to whom it supplies electricity. Later on Thursday, Energo-Pro Sales said it treats equally all its customers, adhering strictly to Bulgaria's legislation.

Europe

Ukraine cannot wait until September to reach an agreement with its creditors to find some $15.3 billion in savings before it is forced to call a moratorium on debt payments, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko said. She also repeated that she expects the International Monetary Fund to release its next $1.7 billion tranche of aid to Kiev in July, even if there is no agreement on a debt restructuring by then. Ukraine's parliament passed a law last month that would allow the government to impose a moratorium on foreign debt payments if necessary. "I don't think we have that much time," Yaresko told reporters, when asked if debt negotiations could last past the summer. "In that respect, I'd have to use other tools to reduce the pressure on the balance of payments, a moratorium." Yaresko and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk are in Washington this week to meet with the IMF, promote Ukraine as an investment destination, and ask U.S. officials for more economic and military support. Kiev has been driven to the edge of default by economic mismanagement and a separatist conflict in the east. Now, as one of the conditions of an IMF-led $40 billion bailout program, it is trying to reach a restructuring agreement with bondholders.

America

The U.S.’s AA+ credit rating was affirmed by Standard & Poor’s, which cited the resilience of the economy and the status of the dollar. The U.S.’s strengths include a “diversified and resilient” economy, and its role as the issuer of the world’s reserve currency, wrote analysts Lisa Schineller and John Chambers. S&P, the only major company that assigns the U.S. a grade below its top rating, kept its outlook at “stable,” which means there is less than a one-in-three chance it will change in the next two years. That’s because a high level of government debt and an “absence of political cohesion” persist, said the analysts. While the country’s debt burden has stabilized, “it will likely rise toward the end of the decade” if the government doesn’t move to cut costs or raise revenue, they added.S&P cut its rating on the U.S.’s debt in August 2011 for the first time, amid gridlock in Washington over the debt limit and government spending. That didn’t cause borrowing costs to rise, though. At the time, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were at 2.56 percent. Within a year, they fell as low as 1.38 percent.

Asia

China's ailing economy showed few signs of improvement in May, with factory output steadying but investment growing at its slowest rate in nearly 15 years, pointing to further weakness unless Beijing ramps up its stimulus efforts. A flurry of data from power output to retail sales released on Thursday showed no convincing pick-up in the world's second-largest economy despite three interest rate cuts since November. That led some analysts to predict growth could cool further in the second quarter, after hitting a six-year low of 7 percent at the start of the year, and increasing the chance of China cutting interest rates again as early as this month. "Today's activity data, plus the soft external trade figures released earlier, suggest that gross domestic product growth could miss 7.0 percent in the second quarter," economists at ANZ Bank said in a note. "We believe that the People's Bank of China will cut interest rates by 25 basis points this month." Fixed-asset investment, a crucial driver of the world's second-largest economy, rose 11.4 percent in the first five months of this year from the year-earlier period, missing a Reuters poll forecast for a 12 percent gain, the same as in April.

The spring of the three nymphs

Aqua Kalide, Termopolis or Bourgas Mineral Baths - whatever the name, the 25-century old medicinal spring still attracts irresistibly the willing to bathe in it. The resort near the Mineral Baths of Bourgas has already been popular in the antiquity. Evidence for the millennial use of the mineral baths are the remains of an ancient and medieval town near them and a Thracian sanctuary of the three nymphs, protectors of the spring. The first famous ruler, who bathed in the healing spring, is Philip II of Macedonia - king of Ancient Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great. Under the name Aqua Kalide, and later Termopolis, the mineral baths developed and flourished over the centuries. In one of the chronicles there is a story that the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Tiberius II found salvation in it. The first healing qualities of the mineral water near Bourgas were described by the Turkish historian Evliya Chelebi in XVII century, who claimed that during his worldwide travels he had never seen more healing water. The mineral water near Bourgas is characterized as "soft". It is hot, the temperature is 41 degrees Celsius, slightly mineralized, moderately fluoric. It is limpid and is of very good drinking and taste qualities. Those who seek relief from rheumatism, infertility, gout and neuralgia come here mineral spring looking for recovery.

On that day:  Historical museum – Montana