Measures to support the economy and people due to the crisis caused by the pandemic will lead to a deficit of over BGN 10 billion for this and next year. This is clear from the draft budget for 2021, published on the website of the Ministry of Finance. For this year the planned deficit is 4.4% of GDP or over BGN 5.2 billion. For the next year the amount is bigger and is almost BGN 5.5 billion. The experts from Kiril Ananiev's department point out that if eliminated the effect of the measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deficit for 2020 amounts to 2% of GDP. The planned revenues for next year are BGN 47.645 billion and the expenditures are BGN 52.532 billion. According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Finance, the deficit will fall to 1.9% of GDP in 2022 and to 1.8% in 2023. In the next two years, the acquisition of combat equipment and a new type of combat aircraft also had an effect. Among the priorities of next year's budget are income, education, healthcare, social and pension policy and defense. From January 1, 2021, the minimum wage will be raised from BGN 610 to BGN 650, and the amount will be maintained until 2023. An additional BGN 410 million is provided for salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff. The money for a 30% increase in salaries in the administrations in charge of pandemic control activities is also envisaged.

840 tour operators and agents have applied for grants from OP Innovation and Competitiveness to overcome the effects of the COVID pandemic, the Ministry of Economy announced. The aid budget is BGN 10 million, and the requested money according to the received applications exceeds BGN 64 million. The companies had eight days to apply online, as the maximum amount of the grant they can receive should not exceed 10% of their turnover for 2019, as well as the de minimis threshold of EUR 200,000. An assessment of the applications is forthcoming, which, according to the Minister of Tourism Mariana Nikolova, should be completed as soon as possible within a month. Funds approved as a grant may only be used for operating costs, the value of which is calculated in the price of the tourist service provided.

The online payment company Paysafe is looking forward to 2021, when it expects to grow by more than 10% and continue to hire new people for its team in the country. Positivism is provoked by the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, which have hit most traditional businesses but boosted online services. 'Despite the challenging business environment in 2020, we had the opportunity to achieve better results. We are planning a very ambitious 2021 and we believe that we are well positioned to achieve growth of over 10%,' said Ivan Petrov, Vice President of Software Engineering at Paysafe. Vice President of Human Resources Elena Dimova does not commit to a specific number. However, it became clear from her words that the current 1,300 Paysafe employees in Bulgaria may grow to 1,500 next year. Currently, the company has two offices in Sofia, and its base ин Булгариа is the largest globally.

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) today considered the price increase requested by Bulgargaz for November. On Monday, the state monopolist submitted to the regulator an application for a change in the price for the next month to BGN 27.03 per MWh (excluding the supplements for access, transmission, excise and VAT). This equates to nearly a 10% increase. The price approved for October is BGN 24.72. It was also increased by 10% compared to the previous month. The final decision on how much Bulgargaz will sell natural gas in November will be made at a closed meeting of the EWRC on November 1. Meanwhile, the state-owned company warned that the rise would continue. 10 days ago it predicted that the price will increase in December. How much - remains to be seen, because international natural gas markets are proving to be too dynamic and forecasts are rapidly becoming obsolete.

The Government adopted a decision at today's meeting to increase the state's shareholding in the capital of Sofia Tech Park. The decision gives the state consent to increase its shareholding in the capital of Sofia Tech Park through a cash contribution of a total of BGN 20,046 913. The funds from the capital increase will be used by Sofia Tech Park to cover the respective 'common property costs', including acquisition costs and operating costs, by purchasing a 'supercomputer with petaflops performance'. The money will be provided under the budget of the Ministry of Economy for 2020. A symbolic first sod of the building of the future Bulgarian supercomputer was made on the territory of Sofia Tech Park on July 2. The extremely powerful computer is expected to work by the end of February 2021. Bulgaria's application for the construction and financing of the supercomputer was approved under the procedure of EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.The total cost of the project is about EUR 18 million, and the state financing in the project, including the estimated operating costs for the first 5 years of operation, is amounting to EUR 12 million.

Bulgarian hydraulic equipment manufacturer M+S Hydraulic generated sales of BGN 7.3 million in September, in line with its monthly forecast. M+S Hydraulic expects to book a further BGN 10.6 million in October, which would bring its total sales in the first ten months of the year to BGN 84.3 million. In the first ten months of last year, the company reported sales of BGN 95.1 million, of which BGN 9.6 million in October alone. The hydraulic equipment maker generated a gross profit of BGN 10.2 million in the first nine months of 2020. This compares to a gross profit of BGN 10.5 million in the same period of 2019. M+S Hydraulic is an affiliate of blue-chip diversified group Stara Planina Hold.

A1 Telekom Austria Group said that its Bulgaria grew its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by 8.1% year-on-year to EUR 57.8 million in the first nine months of 2020, on the back of a similar rise in revenue. A1 Bulgaria's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by an annual 6.1% to EUR 146.1 million in the January-September period of 2020. The company's revenue increased by 8.1% to EUR 376.9 million in the first nine months of 2020, with service revenue adding 6.3% to EUR 299.5 million. The rise in service revenue was driven by a 12.2% increase in fixed-line service revenue, which came in at 97.5 million euro in the review period. Mobile service revenue totalled EUR 202 million, up 3.7%. Capital expenditure in Bulgaria dropped 16% to EUR 39.6 million in the first three quarters of 2020. A1 Bulgaria's wireless subscribers decreased to 3.767 million at the end of September, down 4% year-on-year. In the third quarter alone, A1 Bulgaria's EBIT increased 2.1% to EUR 22.8 million, as revenue added 4.8% to EUR 127.9 million. A1 Bulgaria competes with Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which operates under the brand name Vivacom, and Telenor Bulgaria owned by Dutch-registered investment group PPF.

The US State Department has expanded the scope of punitive measures against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and warned the companies involved in its construction that they will face sanctions if they do not cease their activities within 30 days. The new guidelines broaden the State Department's interpretation of the 2019 European Energy Security Protection Act (PEESA) by focusing on vessels that are laying pipes at least 100 feet below sea level for Nord Stream 2, Turkish Stream or any other similar future project. The institution added that companies providing "facilities for the modernization or installation of equipment for these vessels" or funding for such work also face potential sanctions, according to S&P Global Plastts. "The State Department and the Ministry of Finance are ready to use the full range of sanctions to stop the construction of these pipelines," the State Department said. The guidelines state that the United States will not impose sanctions on those who violate the law "if those individuals engage immediately and complete such activities within 30 days."

Pioneer Natural Resources is in talks to acquire Parsley Energy, Oilprice and The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the talks. According to the media, the deal concerns the transfer of all shares and is expected to be finalized by the end of the month. Parsley Energy has a market value of about $ 4.17 billion and about $ 3.123 billion of long-term debt. The company reported a net loss of nearly $ 400 million in the second quarter due to weaker production and the suspention of all new drilling in May and June amid declining oil demand. Pioneer, on the other hand, has a market capitalization of more than $ 14 billion and a debt of about $ 2 billion. Like most companies in the industry, it also reported a loss for the second quarter and a small free cash flow, which, like profit, was rare during the period considered.

Japan’s oldest steel mill is venturing into recycling the industrial metal to tackle climate change and survive a race with Chinese mills. Nippon Steel Corp. has been making steel from mined iron and coal in blast furnaces for more than a century. But as competition heats up, President Eiji Hashimoto called on his staff last month to examine an alternative process that recycles steel from scrap in an electric-arc furnace to cut costs and help it expand in emerging Asian economies. Nippon Steel has so far distanced itself from electric-arc furnaces partly because of technological hurdles in making high-end steel even though its units and affiliates have used the technology. Electric-arc furnaces are estimated release only a fourth of the carbon dioxide compared with traditional furnaces, according to Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co, Japan’s biggest maker of recycled steel. With mills in top producer China catching up on technology and making inroads into Nippon’s key market of Southeast Asia, the company is looking to cleaner steel to cut costs and maintain its market share. The cost of building an electric-arc furnace is estimated at a 20th of a blast furnace, according to Tatsuya Kikkawa, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co.