The volume of concluded investment transactions in the second half of last year was EUR 221 million, thus compensating for the lower activity in the first half of the year. Thus, the business real estate market registered an annual value of EUR 240 million. This shows the latest report of the company for professional services and investment management in the field of real estate Colliers. The distribution by sectors shows that 35% of the annual volume is due to transactions with office space. They are followed by sales with construction plots (24%), industrial areas (19%), retail space (10%), hotels (9%) and others. The share of international buyers is dominant, both for the second half of the year and for the whole of 2021. These are mainly companies from Central and Western Europe. The figures show that the levels of return between July and December last year in office space shrank to 7.75%, but in commercial and industrial space remained stable - respectively 7.75% and 8.5%.

In the fourth quarter of 2021 the gross domestic product of Bulgaria increased by 4.5% on an annual basis and by 1% compared to the third quarter of 2021. This is shown by the express preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute. GDP in nominal terms reached BGN 38.513 billion at the end of last year. The realized value added in the fourth quarter of 2021 is BGN 33.476 billion. By elements of final use, the largest share in GDP is occupied by final consumption by 81.7%, which in value terms amounts to BGN 31.477 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2021 gross capital formation (investments) amounted to BGN 8.283 billion and accounted for 21.5% of relative GDP. The foreign trade balance is negative. In the fourth quarter of 2021, GDP increased by 4.5% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Gross value added increased by 4.2%, final consumption increased by 7.9%, while gross fixed capital formation decreased by 12.5% ​​compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Exports of goods and services increased by 12.9% and imports - by 11.2%

Bulgarian real estate investment company Infinity Capital said that the absorption of its wholly-owned unit Gurmazovo Hills has been entered in the commercial register. Gurmazovo Hills' assets have been transferred to Infinity Capital, the real estate investment company said in a bourse filing. Infinity Capital will continue actively working on the next stages of the implementation of the Aristocrat Hills residential project, which was previously owned by Gurmazovo Hills, the company said in the bourse filing. Infinity Capital announced the start of the procedure for the absorption of Gurmazovo Hills early in November. At the end of October, Infinity Capital said that it signed the final contract for the acquisition of 100% interest in Gurmazovo Hills from local company GD Capital Management. Infinity Capital made its debut on the SME growth market BEAM of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) in November after it raised close to BGN 1.36 million in an IPO.

The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has revoked the license of Emirates Properties REIT to operate as a special purpose vehicle. Thus, special purpose vehicles are reduced by another. A year ago, the General Meeting of Shareholders of Emirates Properties decided to renounce the company's license and transform it into an ordinary joint-stock company. However, the company plans to remain public. This year Agro Finance is expected to be written off from the stock exchange, after the company previously renounced its license and was transformed into an ordinary joint stock company.

From the beginning of 2021 there is a serious increase in all basic materials used by Shumen-based Herti, specializing in the production of aluminum, plastic and composite caps and dispensers. At the end of the third quarter, this was felt very strongly with almost 60% growth in the main raw material for the company - aluminum, which is a commodity, so Herti cannot influence prices. The same can be said for other basic materials and the prices of natural gas and electricity, as well as transport costs, which have increased several times. There is also a delay in the supply of both some raw materials and ordered equipment related to investment in production. Logistics costs, especially outside Europe, are causing a long delay in the delivery of Herti's products to customers, the company said. The offers received by the company are at very high prices and with much reduced quantities and with a deadline for deliveries until the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The unified e-commerce platform for small and medium-sized businesses CloudCart, based in Bulgaria, has successfully received additional funding from a new investor - Elevator Ventures - the corporate venture capital company of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI). Elevator Ventures joins NV3, the company's current investor, who has also contributed financially to this circle. Proceeds from the new funding will be used to grow CloudCart, including technological development and expansion into new geographical areas in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The platform offers easy-to-use software that automates the creation of e-shops, as well as a complete ecosystem of support services and tools, located individually for each market to cover all daily operational needs of small and medium-sized businesses.

The profit of the manufacturer of carpets from Sliven Dekotex decreased dramatically in the last quarter of 2021 due to declining sales and despite lower costs. This can be seen from the consolidated report of the company for the period October-December 2021, published through the site x3news.com. The company's sales revenues decreased to BGN 3.766 million at the end of December 2021 compared to BGN 4.402 million a year earlier, or by 14.5%. The total revenues of the company amounted to BGN 3.851 million at the end of the fourth quarter of last year compared to BGN 5.194 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, or 25.9% less on an annual basis. The company reduced costs for the period to BGN 3.839 million from BGN 3.987 million a year earlier, which is a decrease of 3.7%.

The price of natural gas in Europe fell sharply, reaching its lowest levels since the beginning of the year. Against the background of tensions in Ukraine and mixed signals of a possible withdrawal of Russian troops, the Dutch TTF index fell by more than 15% in three days. On Wednesday morning, the raw material was traded for about 68.5 EUR per mWh, which is the lowest price since November 1, 2021. Just for comparison: the same index, with which the price of gas under the contract between Bulgargaz and Gazprom is linked, reached a record 180 EUR per mWh in December and that is why from January 1 there was a rise in price by 30% on the Bulgarian market. In this case, the sharp decline is due to the lull in tensions in Ukraine. But this factor can be quickly reversed in the event of a rapid escalation. However, futures are quite optimistic at the moment, as the decline in the spot market directly reflects on them. Prices for the second and third quarters of 2022 are around the current value of less than 70 EUR per mWh.

US interest rates will rise significantly by the end of the year. The Federal Reserve's dilemma is whether to meet market expectations, which are already high enough, or to rely on a sudden improvement in inflation to bring about a gradual normalization of interest rates and no negative impact on the economy. According to some economists who know the work of central bankers from the inside, there is no winning move for the Fed in this choice. And this is because inflation is a problem that will not be solved quickly and which, unfortunately, already has a very negative impact on the economy. The University of Michigan's Consumer Confidence Survey fell so sharply in early February that it is already at recession levels. The reason is inflation and especially the rise in energy prices. I doubt that the fears are due to expectations of rising interest rates. Otherwise, we would not have seen such strong stock purchases from individual investors in the United States.

China's production inflation reached its slowest pace in six months in January, and consumer price inflation has also slowed. This comes amid weaker demand in the real estate sector, new restrictions on the coronavirus and the government's efforts to contain rising material prices. The wholesale price index has risen by 9.1 percent compared to the previous year, the National Statistical Office said. The increase is less than projected in the Reuters survey of 9.5 percent and growth of 10.3 percent in December. While production prices in the world's second-largest economy remain high due to serious problems with supply chains at home and abroad, relatively low consumer inflation contrasts with that of most economies around the world. Analysts believe that "cooling" inflation could allow the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to ease its policy in support of a slowing economy, even as major central banks in other countries tighten it.