Financial news

The budget of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) for 2016 will be BGN 117 million, which is nearly BGN 3 million more than in the previous year, according to the estimates by the central bank before depositing it on vote in parliament. In the revenue side, the bank expects nearly BGN 90 million from management of international reserves, which is a supplement to other sources of income such as fees from banks for supervision, circulation of banknotes and coins, profits of subsidiaries and others. Single cost of BGN 5 million for payment on services for outside consultant for valuation of assets and stress tests of the banks increased the cost of the bank for next year. The contract signed between BNB and Deloitte Bulgaria fixed a price of BGN 1.57 million, without VAT, but it does not include additional costs, which will be paid by person-days of work done.

14 per cent of people in Bulgaria between the ages of 15 and 65 have primary education or lower. This means that over 460,000 of Bulgaria's active population has graduated middle school at the most. This impedes this group's mobility on the labour market and creates poverty, the newspaper quotes the Labour and Social Policy Ministry as saying. Despite all the measures taken, this group of people has been increasing instead of decreasing - by some 70,000 in 2013 alone. One in five residents of Bulgaria's northwestern region lacks secondary education.

Companies

Bulgarian companies and organizations can participate in competitions for European projects to develop electronic control systems on the continent. The assignments are funded in the "Telecommunications" sector from the Connecting Europe Facility and planned funds amount to EUR 55.6 mln. The initiative aims to build trans-European transport, communications and infrastructure networks and services. This would happen through international public procurements, which must build a system for the provision of electronic services within the EU. Possibilities for application and requirements for the submission of proposals were presented on Thursday at an event organized by the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications. Bulgarian participants in competitions under the Connecting Europe Facility in most cases need to seek partners from other EU countries for inclusion in consortiums. Grants are between 50 and 100% of the eligible direct costs for the project.

First Investment Bank (Fibank) has repaid BGN 775 million out of a BGN 1.2 billion liquidity support package which it received in June 2014, including interest. According to a plan approved by the European Commission, the remaining BGN 450 million should be repaid by May 2016. The Bulgarian government provided liquidity support to Fibank in the shape of a deposit of BGN 1.2 billion as part of a liquidity scheme approved by the European Commission on June 29, 2014. The interest on the deposit is determined on a market basis. Due to limitations concerning new government debt in 2014, the deposit was made for a short term of only five months, which elapsed on November 28, 2014. Therefore, the Finance Ministry sought, and eventually obtained, permission from the European Commission to provide more state aid that should be recovered by May 28, 2016.

Based in Honk Kong international hotel chain Swiss-Belhotel International will open an eco-hotel called Swiss-Belresort Mount Orpheus in the Rhodopes in 2017. In addition the company plans taking over management of hotels in Sofia, Bansko, Plovdiv, Burgas, Pomorie and Varna. The deal for the Hotel in Varna is expected to be concluded before the end of the present year. The new hotel Swiss-Belresort Mount Orpheus will be located in the Rhodopes, close to Krustova voda location. The project includes construction of an entire eco village. It will have an area of 30 thousand square meters and will be owned by a company under the name of Sacred land OOD. Swiss-Belhotel International will take over the management of the hotel. Most probably it will be completed in two years’ time. The very hotel will have four stars and will dispose with 100 rooms. About 150 people will be hired. The hotel will attract tourists from both the country and abroad. Swiss-Belhotel International is founded back in 1987 and has its headquarters in Hong Kong. It operates more than 120 hotels all over the world, mostly in China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and the Middle East. The company strives for expansion in Europe, as it has already based its European office in Athens, Greece.

A Sofia-based family company under the name of Norte is offering bamboo toothbrushes under the brand of Nordics. The idea is the toothbrush to be made of bamboo, not from plastics. The provider of the material is from Malaysia. The company started producing the hull and fibre of the brushes on behalf of the Bulgarian company. In Bulgaria the products are additionally processed and packed. All materials in the production process are with natural origin. The handle is 100% bamboo - absolutely antimicrobial material. The fibers are of high quality recycled nylon made by DuPont. The packaging is with 100% recycled cardboard and is completely degradable. The company started production with 500 items. Samples were sold out in two weeks. The next batch was of 1000 brushes. Norte’s toothbrushes are sold in organic shops, drug stores. The company provides about 30 stores in Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Rouse, Haskovo, Montana, as well as 15 online stores. Sales ratio was 60:40 in favour of e-commerce. At present procedure of registration of the design is going on. Norte has inquiries from distributors in Romania, too. Plans for 2016 include expanding the portfolio of sites and cities for sale. So far about BGN 15 thousand has been invested.

bTV Media Group expanded its portfolio and now have the rights to sell advertising time on one of the biggest global brands for children's television content - Nickelodeon. The channel broadcast animations, series and programs for children. bTV is a partner with Cartoon Network since the beginning of 2015. "The acquisition of the rights for Nickelodeon is a milestone of the strategic development of bTV Media Group. We complement the portfolio of channels with content on a global level. In this way we offer programs enable our partners to reach a multifarious and diverse television audience" said Vessela Dimova, Sales Director in the private media.

IndustryMatchMaking 2016 - IMM2016, Business and technology matching event

Europe

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EBRD, will approve China's bid to become a member of the bank. The EBRD is a development finance organization founded in 1991 initially to support such nations as former Soviet states and Eastern European countries. Its shareholders include Japan, the United States and 62 other countries, as well as the European Union. Sources told NHK that the EBRD plans to give the green light for China's membership application within a week at the earliest. China announced last month that it filed the application with the bank. If the membership is approved, it is expected to give a boost to China's push to create a huge economic zone encompassing Asia and Europe. China's plan to join the EBRD is likely to further advance its economic relations with Europe. It is also predicted to boost China's presence in the field of international finance.

America

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker is proposing instituting a personal income tax for the first time in 35 years as the oil-dependent state looks to plug a multibillion-dollar budget deficit amid chronically low prices. In laying out his budget plan Wednesday, Walker also proposed using the fund that provides annual checks to most Alaskans to generate a stream of cash to help finance state government. The plan would change how dividends are calculated and mean lower checks, at least initially — with 2016 payouts about $1,000 less than this year's. Alaska isn't alone among oil-producing states to experience hard times as oil prices stay low. But unlike states like Texas or Louisiana, Alaska has few other industries to make up the difference. The administration says the goal was to spread the burden as widely as possible and that even with the proposed increases, the tax burden on individual Alaskans would be among the lowest nationally.

Asia

India has agreed to buy a high-speed bullet train from Japan, in an attempt to transform its creaking rail system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the train would link Mumbai and Ahmedabad, cutting travel time on the route from eight hours to two. The deal was one of a raft of agreements reached after talks between the two sides in Delhi. The leaders of Asia's second and third largest economies also announced other areas of co-operation. These include working on defence technology, and agreeing a memorandum of understanding on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The latter agreement is expected to allow Japan to export nuclear plant technologies to India. Last week Mr Modi's cabinet cleared the $14.7bn (£9.6bn) cost of building the bullet train system. The agreements with Japan came during a three-day visit to India by the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, which began on Friday.

Podgumer Monastery St. Dimitar – Novi Iskar

The Podgumer Monastery St. Dimitar is a part of the Vitosha Small Holy Mountain. The monastery is situated in a small valley in the south foot of the Sofia Mountain of West Balkan Mountain. It is lies some 7 km away eastern direction from Novi Iskar, and 5 km northeastern from the village of Podgumer. It is believed that the monastery was built in 13th century. It was destroyed and ruined many times, and in 1848 was restored again with the aid of the local people from the Podgumer surrounding villages – Kurilo, Gnilyane, Kumaritsa, Zhelyava. The wall-paintings were made by Pimen of Sofia, who was wall-painted over fifteen churches and monasteries in Bulgaria. The monastery church is a small basilica with one apse, having big narthex with no dome. The Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski stayed here once during his work in the Sofia region. In the period 16-18th century the monastery was one of the literary centers in the district and there was a rich library as some of the book and documents were written by the monks living in the monastery. Once the monastery kept a copy of the first edition of Nedelnik (Sunday Study) written by Sofroniy Vrachanski, which was printed in Rome in 1806.

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