The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (KEVR) proposes that electricity for households should increase in price by an average of 4%, and the price of steam and hot water by up to 0.5% from July 1st. The regulator published a report for discussion, from which it is clear that the proposed values coincide with the forecast of the chairman of the commission, Ivan Ivanov. According to a report, it is predicted that the biggest jump in household electricity will be for users of "Energo Pro" in North-Eastern Bulgaria - by a little over 4 percent. At the energy companies "Electrohold" and EVN, the price increase was 3.4%. Regardless of the fact that the heating companies insisted on a drastic increase, the regulator kept almost the same prices for them, with the anticipated increase being less than half a percent. In the case of the two largest district heating systems - those in Sofia and Plovdiv - the increase is negligible and practically the prices remain the same. The only reduction is in Pernik, where, however, it is also below one percent. The proposal for the price change will be discussed on June 1st, and the KEVR will take the final decision on July 1st, when the new prices will come into effect.

Bulgaria will save BGN 188 million, which it had to pay under the contract with the manufacturer "Pfizer" for the supply of vaccines against COVID-19, as a result of the consistent efforts and the firm position of the Ministry of Health (MoH). The European Commission has successfully concluded negotiations with the manufacturer and signed Supplementary Agreement 5 to the Agreement for the purchase, further development, production and options for the purchase and supply of a vaccine against COVID-19 for EU Member States - SANTE/2021/03/020. As a result, only the paid and deferred quantities of vaccines that were supposed to be received in 2022 will be delivered to Bulgaria. After that, until the contract with the manufacturer expires in 2026, Bulgaria will not receive new supplies, unless our country explicitly expressed desire. Another BGN 112 million was saved last year, after an agreement was reached, according to which quantities of vaccines intended for delivery in Bulgaria should be purchased from another member state.

The Lebanese with a Bulgarian passport, Joseph Maurice Jabra, will buy the Bulgarian division of the American Schreiber Foods - "Schreiber Foods Bulgaria". The company being sold is actually the former "Serdika" - Sofia, which was privatized by "Danone" and a decade ago the production asset was bought by the American group. The purchase has been being prepared for six months, explained Joseph Jabra, who already owns a milk processing company - "MJ Deriz", in Karlovo. The new deal will create the second largest dairy group in the country after the newly formed leader Tirbul - OMK. For now, the local dairy market remains saturated with competition - there are over 200 dairies, and about 30 large and medium-sized ones.  "Schreiber Foods Bulgaria" has a turnover of BGN 51.3 million. For 2022, "Schreiber Foods Bulgaria" will report about BGN 60 million in sales revenue, and for the first months of this year already a profit,  reported Joseph Jabra. The buyer will be the newly established JMJ Industries, and the newly acquired company will change its name to Deary Day. For 2022,

Danish furniture retailer JYSK will open 6 more stores in the country this year. The site in Karlovo is in the most advanced phase, announced Kristina Stankova, director of "Business for Business" in the company. For business customers, the company's 51 stores will act as a showroom, and some of the products will be specially sized for business, which includes office chairs and more. The special service is now available in 16 of the 31 countries where the company is present. In addition, 5 stores will be renovated. The company reports stable sales and better results in the current financial year compared to the previous one, with a forecast of 25% annual sales growth. For the financial year 2021-2022, which for the company starts from September 1, 2021 and ends on August 31, 2022, JYSK in Bulgaria reported its best results so far - a turnover of nearly BGN 505 million and a profit of BGN 19 million. This is an increase of revenues by 31%, according to the company's data, which includes the revenues of the distribution center in Bozhurishte, which already serves the company's deliveries to Turkey. She already has 2 stores in Istanbul. Online sales account for about 10% of revenue.

"Eleven Capital" will pay a dividend to shareholders for the second year, as can be seen from the invitation and materials for the holding of the regular annual general meeting, scheduled for June 29 in Sofia. The amount of the dividend is the same as last year's - BGN 0.4 per share gross (BGN 0.38 net), or a total of BGN 920,611.20. The rest of the profit in the amount of almost BGN 1.9 million will be treated as retained earnings. The dividend will be paid through UniCredit Bulbank JSC. The shareholders will also vote to extend the company's term for another two years, starting from January 23, 2024, i.e. its new term is January 23, 2026. In the last year, the shares of "Eleven Capital" have increased in price by over 17%, and the market capitalization is slightly below BGN 50 million.

The Bulgarian Stock Exchange JSC will pay its shareholders the highest dividend it has distributed so far and will increase its capital at the regular annual general meeting, which will be held on June 29 in Sofia. The profit realized by the company for 2022, after taxation, is in the amount of BGN 6,868,500.67. An amount of BGN 4,871,316.40, representing 70.92 percent of the profit, is allocated for dividend payment, or BGN 0.74 per share. Another 292,038.22 BGN will be used for capital increase in accordance with Article 197, Paragraph 1 of the Commercial Law. And the amount of BGN 658,286 will be used to supplement the "Reserve" fund after the decision to increase the capital is made by the general meeting. Along with this, an amount of BGN 1,046,860.05 remains as undistributed profit and refers to the company's additional reserves. The dividend will be paid through "Central Depository" JSC and the branches of "UniCredit Bulbank" JSC in the country. This will be done within 60 days from the date of the general meeting at which the decision to pay the dividend was made. The General Assembly will decide on an increase in the capital of "Bulgarian Stock Exchange" JSC with the company's own funds. This will be done with BGN 6,582,860, and the capital of the exchange operator will grow to BGN 13,165,720. The books will be distributed only among the company's shareholders in proportion to their participation in the share capital at a ratio of 1:1 (issuance and distribution to each of the company's shareholders of 1 new share for each of their shares).

The liabilities of the municipal company "Toplofikatsia Sofia" have reached BGN 1.6 billion. The sum of the liabilities exceeds the annual budget of the Capital Municipality by BGN 300 million. It is also greater than the total amount of revenues of "Toplofikatsia - Sofia", which for the last year were about BGN 1.26 billion. The obligations are mainly to the state companies "Bulgarian Energy Holding" and the gas supplier "Bulgargaz". They have been accumulating for years, and at the moment there is no sustainable solution to reduce them. It is likely that the problem will continue to deepen, since according to the company's estimates, a loss of nearly BGN 150 million is expected for 2023. The increase in income is by 58%, and in expenses by 90%. The company continues to pay large sums for greenhouse gas quotas - nearly BGN 230 million for last year. BGN 70 million per year was given for interest due to BEH and Bulgargaz. Production efficiency is only 76%. Separately, 18% of the energy goes for own needs, and 13% is lost during transmission.

China's home buyers are slowing, data from the country's central bank showed, despite price cuts and stimulus in the world's biggest housing market, which continues to collapse. Meanwhile, construction developers in China are starting to collapse - the value of real estate giant Wanda Group's dollar bonds has collapsed, ZeroHedge writes. In early 2023, local government across the country introduced policies to rescue the failing real estate sector. However, sales in April fell short of analysts' expectations. According to April 2023 statistics released by China's central bank, mortgages fell by 241.1 billion yuan ($33.8 billion) in April. Medium- and long-term loans to households, mainly mortgages, fell by 115.6 billion yuan ($16.2 billion), and short-term mortgages fell by 125.5 billion yuan ($17.6 billion). Aftermarket sales in China's biggest cities show double-digit declines in April. Beijing is in this statistic with a drop of 37.3 percent, followed by Hangzhou with 32.7 percent, Shanghai with 26.71 percent; Nanjing - 13 percent. The worst decline was in Hefei Prefecture, where there was a 40 percent drop. This has forced entrepreneurs to lower prices, but that doesn't just happen in China either. Two real estate developers in Kunshan County were punished by China's price gouging regulators for "disrupting the normal order of the real estate market and causing social instability." According to estimates from the "2021 China Housing Market Value Report." to economist Ren Zepping, the value of the country's housing market was $62.6 trillion in 2020, compared to $33.6 trillion in the United States; $10.8 trillion in Japan and $31.5 trillion in the UK, France and Germany combined. According to the "China Wealth Report 2022", the market value of China's housing market reached $73.8 trillion in 2021. This represents a 17.9% increase in total market value year-on-year (2020). Many cities have seen a huge increase in the number of listings for the sale of real estate on the secondary market. "The consequences of the collapse of the real estate market and the default on residential mortgages will eventually be passed on to the banks," Chinese financier Fang Qi told The Epoch Times. For banks, there are two risks associated with residential mortgages. Both situations bring losses and directly weaken the banks' assets. One is when homeowners default on their mortgage payments because of the ongoing boycott, with many homeowners refusing to make payments on unfinished homes. The New York Times estimates that the boycott could affect up to 4 percent of outstanding mortgages (as of August 2022). The second risk is when homeowners pay off their mortgages early, as many Chinese homeowners do. They use personal savings or take out cheap loans under stimulus programs designed for large consumer purchases or to start new businesses. Analysts estimate that nearly $700 billion in mortgages have been prepaid since early 2022, when banks began cutting interest rates on loans. Given the situation now where consumers are very cautious about spending, this is actually bad news for banks. Not only are they losing money on existing mortgages, but there is also a shortage of new loans to finance. And construction contractors are feeling the strain. Chinese real estate giant KWG Property said it had defaulted on $31 million in principal due as of April 28. In late April, Fitch Ratings placed one of China's oldest and largest real estate giants Wanda Commercial and Wanda Commercial Properties (Hong Kong) on its watch list.