By the end of the year, Bulgaria is expected to receive the first tranche of about BGN 2.7 billion under the Recovery Plan. On August 31, Bulgaria submitted to the EC a request for payment based on the achievement of 22 key milestones and objectives specified in the EU Council decision for the first installment under the plan. Bulgaria's plan will be supported free of charge with a total of 5.7 billion euros. The commission's opinion was sent to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) with a request for an opinion. The IFC must present the opinion within four weeks and then it will be taken into account in the EC's assessment. Subsequently, the commission will adopt the final decision to allocate the funds and then the amounts will be able to be paid to Bulgaria.

The market price index (MPI), which reflects wholesale food prices in Bulgaria, rose this week by 1.13 percent to 2,219 points, BTA reported. Thus, the ITC almost reached its highest historical level of 2,222 points reached at the beginning of May this year. The base level of the ITC - 1,000 points - is from 2005.

Several Plovdiv hotels are currently on the market. The most expensive of them is "City Hotel". It is currently listed at a price of 6 million euros without VAT /or 7.2 million euros with VAT/. The 3-star hotel is located on "6th September" Blvd., next to the Maritsa River, with an area of ​​3,200 square meters, distributed among 43 rooms, a spa center, a restaurant and a conference hall. Currently, the hotel is managed by the Keser family - Altan, Turhan and Ertan Keser. The hotel in the heart of Sahat Tepe, which was named Hotel Saga Palace and HOTEL THE WHITE HOUSE, is also looking for buyers. It is located on Stefan Karadzha street, contains 23 rooms and 15 unfinished and is for sale for 3.56 million euros. The relatively new "Bordeaux" hotel, which has a square footage of 1,500 square meters and has over 22 rooms and apartments, is for sale for 1,500,000 euros. The Nord Hotel, meters from the Plovdiv Fair, has been for sale since 2020, and its selling price is currently 1 million euros. The Central Hotel in Kapana is also looking for buyers for €519,000. There are also a number of smaller properties that are traded at prices between 500-600 thousand euros. The former hotel above Plovdiv Main Street, which later housed the legendary restaurant "Crystal", and is now a rock bar and school, has been on the real estate market for a long time. The building on "Lady Strangford" street has a built-up area of ​​1200 sq.m. and is trading for €899,000. (trafficnews.bg)

Another large-scale construction investment in Sofia is about to give birth to a whole new neighborhood - with nearly 600 homes and an unknown number of thousands of cars. The investment intention of the company "NM 151" Ltd is to build a complex "Galaxy city" in the metropolitan area "Krasno Selo". On the site of the former "Balkankar 6th September" plant (at the intersection of "Zhytnitsa" blvd. and "Nikola Mushanov" blvd. in the "Krasno Selo" district), 13 blocks will be built, in which there will be 581 apartments, an unknown amount offices and hicks square meters of commercial space. Along Nikola Mushanov Blvd., three buildings are planned, each of which will consist of two buildings (i.e. 6 blocks in total), one of which will be 50 m high (or 16 floors), and the other – 44 m (or 14 floors). In the northern part of the property - towards a new street, a building consisting of three 30-meter sections (i.e. 3 blocks) whose facades are partially in contact with each other is planned, the proposal also states. In the south-eastern part of the field, there will be three lower blocks - each with 7 floors, and the last 8-storey block will be located in the southernmost part of the property. The investor promises to build a separate park with a sports area in the southern part of the field, which will become an attraction for the entire neighborhood

"Kingli" Ltd. is the first textile company in Bulgaria with zero waste, which manufactures sustainable products for the promotional industry. The company's sales for 2021 equal BGN 5.8 million with a net profit of BGN 1 million. For the previous year, the company's sales amounted to BGN 3 million. "Kingly" Ltd. has representative offices in the United Kingdom and in the United States, and the main market of the company is countries such as France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States. Currently, 25 employees are employed in the company.

The net sales revenues of "Monbat" PLC decreased by 7.39 percent on an annual basis, and by the end of September they were worth BGN 233.90 million. The company for the production and trade of accumulators and lead-acid batteries - starter, stationary with telecommunication application, special with military application and locomotive reports the individual net profit for the period, which is in the amount of BGN 8.67 million, which decreases by 51.41 percent in compared to the end of the nine months a year ago. The marketing and distribution strategy provides "Monbat" with market diversification, with sales in more than 77 countries, with important markets for the company being Germany, France, Spain and Saudi Arabia. For the period between January and September, the company realized on an individual basis total revenues from abroad in the amount of 103.20 million euros, which provide 86.27 percent of all cash receipts. The main market of "Monbat" is Germany with a share of 9.87 percent of the company's total exports.

The sales of Zaharni Zavodi PLC - Gorna Oryahovitsa increased significantly in the third quarter, according to the data from the company's consolidated financial report at the end of September. The Zaharni Zavodi PLC group includes several enterprises - factories for the production of sugar, confectionery, ethyl alcohol and high-protein feed, its own thermal power plant and a plant for repair and mechanical services. The revenues of the Zaharni Zavodi PLC group for the nine months increased by 68 percent to BGN 164.52 million compared to BGN 97.93 million a year earlier. The total expenses of Zaharni Zavodi PLC increased to BGN 139.77 million for the nine months, or by 46 percent on an annual basis. Zaharni Zavodi PLC ends the nine-month period with BGN 27.46 million net profit compared to BGN 4.55 million for the same period last year, which means a six-fold increase. Shareholders in Zaharni Zavodi PLC are "Zahar Invest" AD - Gorna Oryahovitsa, which controls 42.94% of the shares with voting rights, "GU-Faraday" EOOD - Stara Zagora has a share of 25.58%, and "Rytam-4TB" OOD - Stara Zagora - 25.55 percent. Another 12 companies own 1.70%, and 1537 individual investors 4.22% of the papers.

Britain relinquished its crown as Europe's biggest stock market to France as economic growth concerns weighed on UK assets and the easing of anti-Covid rules in China supported shares of French luxury goods companies. Calculated in U.S. dollars, the total market capitalization of Paris-listed companies overtook that of London, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg. Share prices of domestically focused companies in the UK have tumbled this year, while shares of French luxury goods makers such as LVMH SE and Gucci owner Kering SA have recently been buoyed by optimism over the potential easing of China's zero-Covid policy. Currency movements have also worked in Paris' favor. Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss's mini-budget and the subsequent turmoil in UK financial markets sent the pound crashing against the greenback to its lowest level since 1985. Within about three weeks of Liz Truss becoming prime minister, markets UK stocks and bonds lost a total of roughly $500bn as investor confidence was shaken by a mini-budget of tax cuts. That left the FTSE 250 index of mid-cap companies down 30 percent against the benchmark MSCI World, the biggest gap since the turn of the century, analysts at Goldman Sachs Inc. wrote. earlier this month. The gap in market capitalization between the British and French stock markets has been melting since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, when it was around £1.5 trillion. dollar. Today, British stocks are valued at around 2.821 trillion. dollars, and the French - about 2.823 trillion. dollars, according to Bloomberg.

Economists at major U.S. bank Goldman Sachs expect a significant drop in U.S. inflation in 2023. The U.S. lender expects the headline PCE inflation index (the price index for personal consumption expenditures, which is an important Fed gauge of U.S. inflation) to fall to 2 .9% by December 2023 from 5.1% currently, with weaker commodity prices and a stronger dollar also weighing on inflation, Goldman Sachs economists said in their analysis. Data last week showed a sharper-than-expected cooling in US consumer inflation in October to 7.7% from 8.2% a month earlier - the slowest price increase since January. Vacancy levels are starting to recover and are likely to return to pre-pandemic levels next year, Bank of America predicts. Goldman Sachs also expects slower wage growth to reduce upward pressure on services inflation through the end of 2023.

On November 15, 2022, humanity will reach 8 billion people. This historic moment is less than 24 hours away and the UN has started the countdown(link is external), although the achievement hardly brings good news for our planet. Forecasts for the next one billion still bring some hope - it is believed that growth will slow down compared to the previous period. It took us 12 years for the last billion, while the next one will take 15 years - until 2037. By 2050, more than half of the increase in the population of the planet will be due to eight countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania and India. At some point in 2023, India will overtake China as the world's most populous country. India currently has just over 1.39 billion people - four times as many as the US. China has 1.41 billion people. But every day 86,000 babies are born in India, while China has 49,400. So India will become the most populous country on the planet next year, and in 2060 it will be 1.65 billion people.