Financial news

Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in the first month of the year stood at 44.9 million euro, the equivalent of 0.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), statistics from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) showed. In January 2015, FDI was 323.4 million euro, but the BNB originally reported an outflow of 16.4 million euro, which was revised later. Investment in equity, including in the real estate sector, stood at 4.7 million euro (compared to 12.8 million euro in January 2015) and there were no re-invested earnings (versus 71.5 million euro a year earlier). Receipts from real estate investments by foreign companies totalled 2.4 million euro, compared to 2.9 million euro in the first month of last year. The central bank data showed 40.2 million euro in investment inflows, recorded as the change in the net liabilities of Bulgarian companies towards their foreign investor owners, compared to 239.1 million euro recorded in January 2015. Such financial flows include financial loans, suppliers’ credits and debt securities, BNB said.

Bulgaria's current account showed a surplus of EUR 165.5 million in January, compared to a deficit of EUR 108.4 million a year earlier. The current account surplus was equivalent to 0.4% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), compared to a deficit of 0.2% of GDP in the year-ago period. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country dropped 86.1% to EUR 44.9 million in January compared to the year-ago period. Bulgaria's trade balance showed a surplus of EUR 66.7 million for the period under review, equivalent to 0.1% of GDP. A year earlier the country had a trade shortfall of EUR 124.7 million for the same period, equal to 0.3% of GDP. Exports in January increased by an annual 7.7% to EUR 1.75 billion, while imports went down 3.7% to EUR 1.68 billion.

Concessions

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova announced to hеr team and tо directors of the departments in the ministry that this summer Harvard mathematical model will be applied to concessions of beaches. According to it, in order to get a winning beach concessionaire will have to bother with the management of two more of which cannot rely on revenue. Angelkova will oblige concessionaires to provide free umbrellas on the beach. Their prices so far ranged between BGN 10 and BGN 30 on elite beaches. They along with lounges are the main item in revenues of companies that take beaches under concession. Thus concessionaires are expected to raise sharply prices of other services that are provided at the beach during the summer period.

Companies

When two or more companies registered in an offshore area want to have a share in companies in key sectors or in companies that participate in public procurement, their total shareholding may not exceed 10%. This change in the so-called Offshore Companies Act was adopted on second reading by the parliamentary budget committee. Currently there is a ban on participation of such companies in public procurement, concessions, privatizations, etc. It is in force since the beginning of 2014. The aim was to reveal the actual owners of companies in key areas - banks, print media, insurance and pension companies, mobile and gambling operators, sports clubs, social agencies. But the Act had to be changed again, as Brussels warned that it is too restrictive and could start criminal proceedings. At first reading was adopted threshold of participation of an offshore company up to 10%. "This allowed us to have 11 companies with 9% each and thus owning 99% of a key company anonymously, for example a bank in Bulgaria," said MP Antoni Trenchev.

Plane parts for leaders in the aviation industry Airbus and Boeing will soon be manufactured in Bulgaria. To that end the American company Woodward will open its first factory in the country, as the facility will be managed by the local subsidiary Woodward Bulgaria. More than BGN 9 million is expected to be invested in the project in the coming three years. In Bulgaria electromechanical components and assemblies that are needed to control fuel system and actuators aircraft will be manufactured. Ready made products will be sent to the factory of Woodward in Niles, Illinois. The factory will be made at the territory of the Sofia’s business complex in the region of Sofia Airport Center. The warehouse will be ready for production within three years. At present slightly more than 70 people are hired under the project, as in already functioning enterprise between 160 and 190 employees will work.

German producer of lighting equipment Osram will build a new factory near Plovdiv. The construction starts in a matter of days, while the very factory is expected to start operation in 2018. The plant will be located in Thrace economic zone. The new industrial facility will be located at a site of more than 30 hectares. The plant will employ 1 thousand people. Siemens’ ex subsidiary’s portfolio includes entire chain of components for electronic devices, control, as well as overall lightning accessories, systems for light management and lightning solutions. Shares of the Munich-based Osram are traded in Mdax index in Frankfurt.

The premium income of Bulgarian insurer Euroins rose 30.5% to EUR 7.66 million in the first two months of 2016, its parent company, Eurohold Bulgaria, said. In February alone, Euroins's total premium income surged by an annual 44.3% to EUR 3.8 million, Eurohold said in a bourse filing. Euroins's premium income from property insurance grew 13.1% to EUR 525,000 in the January-February period. The company’s general motor insurance business generated EUR 1.5 million in premiums in January-February, up 5% from a year earlier, while third-party liability insurance premiums were up 40.6% to EUR 3.86 million. Euroins is a unit of Euroins Insurance Group, the insurance sub-holding division of Eurohold Bulgaria.

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Europe

Eurozone inflation slipped back into negative territory in February, a final reading of the data has confirmed. The euro area’s annual inflation rate came in at -0.2 per cent for February, in line with a preliminary reading. Inflation had been higher in January, at 0.3 per cent. The dip back into negative territory comes despite a 0.2 per cent rise in monthly prices in February – a figure that was revised higher from the preliminary reading. Unsurprisingly, transport fuel, heating oil and gas had the biggest “downward impacts” on inflation in February, according to Eurostat, the European statistics office. The European Central Bank last week took an axe to its inflation forecast for this year, chopping it to 0.1 per cent from 1 per cent previously, as it pumped up its stimulus programme in an effort to prop up inflation in the region and boost lacklustre economic growth. ECB president Mario Draghi said it was “unavoidable” that low inflation or even deflation would persist, given the collapse in oil prices, but insisted it is “crucial” that the central bank takes action against factors that it might be able to affect. That is a line the central bank chief has been sticking to, despite questions over the efficacy of the ECB’s stimulus.

America

Apple has moved some of its iCloud services onto the Google Cloud, marking one of the most high-profile wins for Alphabet's rival to Amazon Web Services since it came under new leadership last fall. Google has been a distant third in its race with Amazon and Microsoft's Azure as the trio vie for market share in cloud computing, but it has made strides since the appointment of industry veteran Diane Greene as head of that business in November. Google also scored a victory with Spotify last month, when the music streaming service announced it would shift away from Amazon Web Services and move most of its services onto the Google Cloud platform. Apple's move to Google comes as part of a broader diversification for its wide range of internet services, which include iCloud backups such as photo storage, music streaming and video downloads. Apple already uses cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft, as well as its own data centers, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple could eventually take more of these services in-house, and it has disclosed plans to build three new data centres over the next two years, in addition to the four it already has.

Asia

Iranian investors are preparing to invest £6 billion on real estate overseas following the lifting of economic sanctions – and London is at the top of their list. The sanctions were lifted last year, following successful negotiations between Iran and the UN, with many experts predicting a buying spree by high-net-worth investors in foreign property markets. With London considered a safe haven in an uncertain global economy, agents in the UK capital have been expecting an influx of capital. New research by high end agency Rokstone forecasts £6 billion will be invested in various markets over the coming five to 10 year, with Dubai, Switzerland, Germany and the South of France also on the shopping list. Knightsbridge, Mayfair, South Kensington, Hampstead and St John’s Wood are predicted to be the most popular target markets, with buyers likely to spend “anything from £1m to £30m on a London home”. The company tells City AM that there are “32,000 individuals or households worth more than £2m, 65 of whom have more than £70m and four of which are billionaires”, with “around 1,000 to 1,500” of these set to buy property overseas. “If five-to-20 per cent of this money comes to London or the UK, this is extremely significant sums of money flowing into the London/UK property market,” adds the agency.

Todor’s day

The first Saturday of the Long Lent celebrates the honour of martyr Theodore Tiron – it is Todor’s day. The legend tells, that the Saint appeared to Evdoksii, archbishop of Constantinopolis, to prevent the Christians from the insidious plan of emperor Julian the Renegade to sprinkle all their Lenten fare at the market with blood so that he could desecrate their strict fast. In iconography St. Theodore is depicted as a white horse rider and dragon fighter. It is a feast of the horses and hence its other name - Horse Easter. In the very early morning mothers bath their children so that they do not have headache and to keep them healthy. Before dawn women bake ritual bread in the shape of little horse or horseshoe, which they give away. On Todor’s day kushii (horse races) are organized - a traditional competition in which all the people take part. Men would fig up in their new shirts, clean their horses, beautify them, and take them out to the race. The champions were awarded with bridles or headgears. The winner visited all the houses to greet the hosts with the holiday.
Todor's day is the name day of Todor, Todorka, Theodore, Theodora, and the ritual table includes yeast bread, lentil and mushroom soup.

On that day:  Thracian tomb of Kazanlak Anniversary of Kuzman Shapkarev's death