According to the preliminary data, Gross Domestic Product at current prices in the third quarter of 2018 is BGN 29.82 billion. The GDP per person amounted to BGN 4236. In USD terms at average quarterly exchange rate of BGN 1.68233 per dollar, the GDP amounted to USD 17.73 billion or USD 2518 per person. In Euro terms, the GDP is EUR 15.25 billion or EUR 2166 per person. Gross value added at current prices in the third quarter of 2018 equals to BGN 26.12 billion. As compared to the third quarter of 2017 the share of the agricultural sector in the gross value added of the economy decreases with 0.8 percentage points to 7.2%. The share of industrial sector decreases with 0.9 percentage points to 27.6%. The relative share of value added from service activities increases from 63.5% to 65.2% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. According to the seasonally adjusted data, GDP in the third quarter of 2018 increased by 0.7% compared with the previous quarter. In the third quarter of 2018 gross value added of the total economy rises also by 0.7%.

Labor productivity again accelerated its growth rate, reaching 3.7% yoy in the third quarter. For comparison, in the period April-June the increase was 3.1%, according to preliminary NSI data. Similarly to the previous months, the acceleration comes from the low-productivity agricultural sector, where the number of workers dropped by 43.7 thousand. In the third quarter, gross value added in the economy grew by 3% over the same period in 2017, thus maintaining its pace since the previous quarter. The property sector is the biggest contributor to the increase. Along with productivity, NSI also published revised estimates for the country's gross domestic product in the third quarter, rising slightly from the initial express estimates for 3% to 3.1% on an annual basis. Investment data has been revised upwards while export estimates are down. The number of people working in the economy declined by more than 35,000 in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, as the decline came from the self-employed in the agrarian sector. There is a slight increase in the number of people on labor and civil contracts, as newcomers are mainly in construction (7.3 thousand people), IT and communications (5 thousand) and the public sector (3.4 thousand).

The tungsten mining project near Velingrad, which has been prepared for 15 years by the Bulgarian company Resource-1 (part of the KCM Group), was blocked by a final decision of the Supreme Administrative Court. It confirms a previous decision of the Pazardzhik Administrative Court, which failed to uphold the company's appeal against the rejection of the project's eco-appraisal. The key argument in the case is the controversial order of the Regional Basin Directorate issued during the EIA procedure and introducing new sanitary protection zones right into the concession area, which has already been declared null and void at first instance. Whatever the final decision on this case, scheduled for February 2020, at best the project will be postponed for years. Tungsten is defined as a strategic raw material, as it is a mandatory ingredient of special steels that have application in a wide range of industries, including military. At the same time, the Bulgarian field is one of the most promising in Europe and its market would be unlimited. The case in the Supreme Administrative Court was initiated on appeal by Resource-1 against a decision of the Administrative Court in Pazardjik from April this year, confirming in practice the decision of the Regional Environmental Inspectorate of October 2017 to reject the investment proposal for extraction and processing of tungsten containing ores from the Grancharitsa center deposit on the territory of the municipality of Velingrad.

The Bulgarian office of the Endeavor World Network will play a major role in the expansion of the organization in Southeast Europe. According to Endeavor Bulgaria's executive director Momchil Vasilev, this will be done by attracting and supporting entrepreneurs from Serbia, Romania, Macedonia and Albania. "In this way, we will also support the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems in these countries, transferring Bulgaria's experience in this field," he said. It has also become clear that discussions are under way to open a representation of the international network in the Croatian capital Zagreb. The network points out that it supports 1106 companies in 33 countries, with its business backed by 1.5 million jobs to date. According to Vasilev, the network in Bulgaria today has 21 entrepreneurs from 13 companies, which generated over BGN 140 million turnover for the past year and created over 900 highly qualified jobs.

Bulgarian lavender oil and cosmetics producer Lavena intends to invest part of the proceeds of its forthcoming capital increase to partially finance a BGN 7 million project for expanding the company's production and storage facilities. Lavena is seeking to raise up to BGN 5.6 million through the issuance of 1,599,905 new shares at a price of BGN 3.5 each. The capital hike will be considered successful if at least 1 million shares are subscribed for and paid for, in which case the proceeds from the capital increase will total BGN 3.5 million. Lavena will invest BGN 3 million from the capital increase proceeds into its capacity expansion project, as the remaining part of the funds needed will be secured via a loan. All other proceeds from the capital increased will be used to pay back debt owed to Lavena's majority owner - Baltimore. Baltimore holds a 74.96% stake in Lavena. If the issue is fully subscribed, Lavena will grow its capital to BGN 9.92 million from BGN 8.32 million. In August, Lavena increased its capital to BGN 8.32 million from BGN 319,981 via a bonus share issue.

Belene nuclear power plant can be constructed in 8 years and would cost nearly EUR 9 billion, the analysis of the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy reads. Bulgaria’s Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova told the National Assembly Energy Committee that the new nuclear facility will be financed with 20% equity and 80% borrowed capital. According to the mandatory condition to the future strategic investors, Bulgaria must participate in this project in the form of a contribution in kind (the money invested by the National Electricity Company until now). The plans also envisage that 1/3 of the construction activities will be done by Bulgarian companies.

The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) said that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the European Energy Exchange (EEX) envisaging introduction of financially settled power futures on the Bulgarian power market. As part of the agreement, EEX will list Euro-denominated and financially settled Base Week, Month, Quarter and Year Futures for the Bulgarian market, following approval of the relevant authorities. The new Bulgarian power futures, which are expected to be introduced in the first half of 2019, will be settled against the day-ahead spot market price calculated by IBEX. "Since the migration PXE Power Futures onto the EEX platform in 2017, we were able to more than triple cleared volumes in Central and South-Eastern Europe. With the introduction of Bulgarian Power Futures, we follow our customers’ wish to further extend the offering for this region," Dr. Tobias Paulun, chief strategy officer of EEX, said in the statement. The EEX is also planning to introduce financially settled power futures for the Serbian and Slovenian markets in the first half of 2019.

UK inflation expectations for the coming year rose to their highest level in five years, survey data from the Bank of England showed on Friday. Median expectations of the rate of inflation over the coming year were 3.2%, compared to 3.0% in August, the results of the quarterly Bank of England/TNS Inflation Attitudes Survey showed. The 3.2% expectation was the highest since the November survey of 2013, when the year-ahead inflation was projected at 3.6%. The survey was conducted between November 2 and 6 among 2197 people. The Bank of England target's inflation at 2%. In October, inflation was 2.4%. Price growth hit a peak of 3.1% in November 2017. Survey respondents said the current rate of inflation was 3.1% versus 2.9% in the August survey. They expect inflation to be 2.8% in two years' time and 3.5% in five years. Regarding the future path of interest rates, 53% of survey respondents expected rates to rise over the next 12 months, which was less than the 58% in August. Britain is preparing to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. The Bank of England has warned that a no-deal Brexit would cause a severe recession in the UK, the kind not even seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago.

IBM agreed to sell $1.8 billion in software assets to India’s HCL Technologies Ltd., part of Big Blue’s effort to focus more on cloud computing. HCL, based in New Delhi, is buying seven businesses focused on markets such as e-commerce and human resources, according to a statement Thursday. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2019. An existing licensing partnership between the two companies will continue for five of the products. “The time is right to divest these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products,” said John Kelly, a senior vice president at International Business Machines Corp. IBM is trying to become a leader in the hybrid cloud market, which combines software and services delivered over the public internet with similar offerings run on companies’ own servers and data centers. In October, the Armonk, New York-based company agreed to buy Red Hat Inc., a specialist in this area, for $33 billion.

China’s export growth is expected to have cooled in November, although still in the double digits, as a slowing in global demand offset a months-long rush to ship goods to the United States ahead of a then-expected increase in tariffs. China’s import growth likely moderated but remained in recent ranges, offering some relief to Chinese policymakers concerned about slackening domestic demand and economic disruptions from the trade row with the United States. A truce in the trade war might steady the near-term outlook for Asia’s biggest economy, which has been slowing due to a mix of domestic factors including a multi-year campaign to curb corporate debt and risky borrowing practices. In Argentina last weekend, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce that delayed the planned Jan. 1 U.S. hike of tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion of Chinese goods while they negotiate a trade deal. Shipments of Chinese goods on an earlier U.S. tariff list targeting $50 billion of products have already weakened sharply, but that has been offset by a rush of shipments on a later list affecting the $200 billion, according to analysts from Capital Economics.