In the third quarter of 2019, a total of 60,390 applications were filed to switch between second pillar pension funds, said the Financial Supervision Commission. Having a pension insurance with a private pension fund - in addition to the mandatory public pension insurance - is required in Bulgaria. A total of 52,858 applicants switched their fund and a total of BGN 175.08 mln were transferred between funds. Between January and September a total of 161,543 individuals transferred their individual accounts to another fund. A total of BGN 519.46 mln were transferred.

Banking sector performance improves for the fourth consecutive year, credit activity being one of the main drivers of economic growth in Bulgaria, one of the highest in the EU. Banks' performance is improving, including profitability. Bad credit goes down, said BNB Governor Dimitar Radev. ‘Key indicators such as capital adequacy, liquidity are above the EU average. My expectation is that the Bulgarian economy and Bulgarian banks will remain stable next year, despite the unfavorable external environment,’ Radev added. He described as a ‘realistic estimate’ the government's forecast growth of 3.0-3.5% for 2020.

Bulgaria's parliament ratified the country's guarantee agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the BGN 215 million loan which the lender is providing to Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH). The funds will be used to finance the construction of the gas interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, which will connect the Greek gas transmission system in the area of Komotini to the Bulgarian gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora. The ratification of the guarantee agreement is a precondition for the disbursement of the funds for the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector, which is expected to cost some EUR 240 million. In October, the European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a EUR 110 million loan to state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding to fund part of the ICGB project, which will also help establish a link with the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP). The project is supported and co-financed by the European Union. The ICGB is included in the list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI), which includes key cross border infrastructure projects that link the energy systems of EU countries. The project is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB, in which BEH and Greece-registered IGI Poseidon hold equal stakes. Greek public gas corporation DEPA and Italian energy group Edison own 50% each of IGI Poseidon.

Bulgaria attracts a large volume of foreign green-field investments in the information and communication technologies. In four years, the volume of these investments increased five times and the sales in this sector amounted to USD 3.2 billion in 2018. The technological center of Financial Times opened in April 2019 in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, which employs 110 people, also contributed to this positive development. Facebook and the World Bank, which also opened offices in Bulgaria’s capital, are among the latest investors in the ICT field. Bulgaria’s software and ICT services sector welcomed a record-high of 16 foreign investment projects to the tune of USD 240 million, mainly in Sofia.

German media company ProSiebenSat.1 has opened a development center in Sofia. It will work on an innovative product that will compete with companies like Netflix and Amazon locally. The company selected Bulgaria among competitors from Portugal, Ukraine and Germany. Bulgaria has been able to prove that it is capable of creating product solutions. Our country has become a location that offers besides IT contractors, IT creators as well.

Glavbolgarstroy has opened its representative office in Brussels, which coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the company. The new representation of the company will develop communication with a wider range of stakeholders. This is not by far the first head office of Glavbolgarstroy outside the country. In its 50 years of experience, the company has implemented projects in various countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Bulgarian manufacturer of artificial Christmas trees - the company Grips-PVC from the town of Rakovski, again expects a minimum of 10-12% sales growth for the season. The company reported USD 1,892 million in revenue for 2018 and USD 146,000 in profit. This year the ornamental tree plant, which is the only one in the Balkans, is investing EUR 250,000 in specialized technological equipment. This allowed the company to produce the latest Christmas tree models and create 10 more jobs. According to the company, 260,000 artificial trees are sold annually in Bulgaria, with Grips-PVC holding more than 60% of the market and the rest imported mainly from China and the Netherlands. In Bulgaria, the factory sells directly to public organizations and private companies, as well as to end customers through chain stores, specialized DIY shops, wholesale stores and more. 30% of sales go through the company's online store. Internet purchases are up 15% in 2018 compared to the previous year. More than 80% of production is exported to 11 European countries: Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

European Greens claimed victory after EU negotiators reached agreement on a green finance taxonomy aimed at channelling billions of private investor’s money into clean technologies. Coal, and – in principle – nuclear power, are out. The deal, reached by national envoys and EU Parliament negotiators yesterday evening, marks a stunning defeat for France, which lobbied hard to win recognition for nuclear energy as a low-carbon source of energy. “Nuclear energy should be part of this eco-label,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire back in October, in comments that irritated Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, the EU countries most staunchly opposed to nuclear. But the European Parliament “resisted attempts from national governments to politicise the environmental criteria” underpinning the EU’s new sustainable finance classification scheme, the Greens said in a statement. A strengthened “do no harm” principle means nuclear power will – in all likelihood – be excluded from the EU’s green finance taxonomy when experts sit down to agree detailed implementing rules next year, they said.

General Motors Co and South Korea’s LG Chem will invest $2.3 billion to build an electric vehicle battery cell joint venture plant in Ohio, creating one of the world’s largest battery facilities. The plant, to be built near GM’s closed assembly plant in Lordstown in northeast Ohio, will employ more than 1,100 people, the companies said. Construction is to begin in mid-2020 and the plant will have an annual capacity of more than 30 gigawatt hours with the flexibility to expand. At a media briefing, GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said the 50-50 joint venture with LG Chem is aimed at “dramatically enhancing electric vehicle affordability and profitability.” Barra said the Ohio battery plant will accelerate the automaker’s initiative to introduce 20 new electric vehicles globally by 2023. “General Motors believes in the science of global warming and believes in an all-electric future,” she said. Barra said the battery cells will be used in a GM electric pickup which will start production in fall 2021 at the company’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which eventually will “have more than one product.”

The World Bank said its board adopted a new plan to aid China with $1 billion to $1.5 billion in low-interest loans annually through June 2025, despite the objections of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and several U.S. lawmakers. Mnuchin told a House Financial Services Committee hearing that the Treasury’s representative on the board had objected on to the plan on Wednesday, adding he wants the World Bank to “graduate” China from its concessional loan programs for low- and middle-income countries. The five-year lending strategy plan was published on Thursday afternoon after the World Bank’s board “expressed broad support” for the multilateral development lender’s engagement in China’s structural and environmental reforms. The World Bank said its lending would decline over the “country partnership framework” plan, in line with reformsagreed under a $13 billion capital increase agreed in 2018. The World Bank loaned China $1.3 billion in the fiscal 2019 year ended June 30, down from about $2.4 billion during fiscal 2017.