In 2023, the relative share of pension costs of GDP is 10.4%, including the additional amounts paid to pensions. Compared to 2022, the value of the indicator marked an increase of 1.1 percentage points. The number of pensioners as of December 31, 2023 was 2,037,336, and compared to December 31, 2022, it increased by 7,018 (0.3%). The average monthly pension of one pensioner for 2023 is BGN 784.48. In its calculation, all supplements to pensions under the Social Security Code (SSC), as well as the so-called paid in 2023, were taken into account. "Easter supplement" in the amount of BGN 70. The nominal increase in the average monthly amount of pensions is 16.3%, and the real - 7.1%. The annual average harmonized index of consumer prices for 2023 is 8.6%. In 2023, the gross and net income replacement rates are 54.3% and 69.9%, respectively. The reported total expenses for pensions in 2023 are in the amount of BGN 19,123,241.0 thousand against the planned BGN 19,168,164.5 thousand. The reported funds are BGN 44,923.5 thousand or 0.2% less than planned and BGN 3,488,526.4 thousand (22.3%) more than what was spent in 2022.

According to the classification of the World Bank, Bulgaria for the first time falls into the group of countries with a high national income. The World Bank Group classifies the world's economies into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high. The classifications are updated annually on July 1 based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita for the previous calendar year. This year, three countries - Bulgaria, Palau and Russia - moved from the category of upper-middle-income countries to the category of high-income countries. Our country enters this group for the first time, and Russia was there in the period 2012-2014. According to the World Bank, the gross national income (GNI) per capita in Russia was 14,250 dollars, which is how much Palau had, and before among them is Bulgaria with 14,460 dollars. Bulgaria has been steadily approaching the high-income threshold with modest growth throughout the post-pandemic recovery, which continues into 2023, when real GDP grows by 1.8%, supported by consumer demand. Economic activity in Russia was influenced by a large increase in military-related activities in 2023, while growth was also boosted by a pick-up in trade (+6.8%), the financial sector (+8.7%) and construction (+ 6.6%). These factors led to an increase in both real (3.6%) and nominal (10.9%) GDP, and Russia's GNI per capita grew by 11.2%.

On June 28, the first railway course of the private company TBD Freight Transport, which invested over 6,000,000 euros in new rolling stock, was carried out. Thanks to this major capital investment, the private railway operator will be able to make regular deliveries of biomass from various suppliers to their customers all year round. The first railway course was implemented along the railway section from Dolna Mitropolia station to Golyamo selo station - TPP Bobov Dol. The cargo composition consisted of 19 wagons, each of which was loaded with over 13 tons of straw, entirely harvested by Bulgarian producers. It is expected that the usual courses of the railway operator will be carried out with up to 40 wagons loaded with clean biomass, so the length of the freight composition together with the locomotive will be approximately 600 meters. The largest power plant in South-West Bulgaria, TPP Bobov Dol, several years ago included biomass in its fuel mix as part of its long-term strategy to phase out coal and gradually switch to low-emission energy sources. The company's experts have repeatedly explained openly that the burning of biomass does not emit carbon emissions and noted that ordinary straw, as well as sunflower husks and pellets, are mainly used. To secure the commitment to several energy companies for the transportation of biomass, TBD Freight Transport" has invested in 3 locomotives and over 140 specialized wagons adapted for loading bales and large tonnage containers. The company "TBD Freight Transport" is based in the town of Pernik and has a railway operator's license since 2015. From then until now, the private railway operator has continuously expanded the volume of deliveries it carries out. The main customers of the company are Bulgarian district heating companies, and until now the courses carried out were for transporting coal and quartz sand directly from the mines to several thermal power plants in the country, as well as to almost all glass plants in Bulgaria and Romania.

Danish video technology company Milestone Systems, which has a development center in Sofia, has announced that it is merging with US-based cloud video surveillance solutions provider Arcules. In this way, the two companies aim to bring together Milestone and Arcules services in video management software (VMS), video analytics and video surveillance as a service (VSaaS). The merger is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. In Bulgaria, Milestone Systems opened an office in February 2011, initially starting as an R&D center, but due to the potential of the Bulgarian market for specialists, the company soon began to develop other functions. Currently, the unit here employs over 200 employees in various technical and non-technical departments who form the entire business cycle of software development, support and sales. In fact, the Sofia office is the second largest for development activity after the headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the main hub for sales management in Central and Eastern Europe. The revenues of the Bulgarian company "Milestone Systems Bulgaria" for 2022 are constantly growing, reaching BGN 23.3 million in 2022. Headquartered in Irvine, California, USA, Arcules was separated from Milestone in 2017. The decision to merge the companies again driven by a shared vision to deliver intelligent, data-driven video technology that empowers customers to make better decisions and optimize their operations.

"Hamberger Bulgaria" opens a new production facility in Lovech, a 2,000 sq. m. building has been rented in the area of ​​the former "Serdika", where the first up to 50 people will start working by the end of July. The intention is that the number of employees will gradually reach 100. In Lovech, the German company will produce bathroom furniture. The investment in Lovech is the first exported production of "Hamberger Bulgaria", which has been operating on the Bulgarian market since 2003. "Hamberger Bulgaria" is part of the German group Hamberger, known in our country for its main production of toilet seat seats in Sevlievo.

The wood processing enterprise "Foresta Mebel" in Gabrovo carries out its production activities in buildings located on nearly 3 acres of built-up area. The company manufactures furniture according to the customer's order. For the last three years, the company has invested about BGN 250,000 for business development - for the purchase of new circular saws and CNC machines, for better working conditions for the staff, for energy efficiency. The number of employees in the company is 11. For 2022, "Foresta Mebel" reports a 23% growth in revenues, which reach BGN 650,000. The company plans to purchase another CNC machine and develop the idea for its own serial furniture models.

The record 7.2 million tons of cargo was processed in 2023 by BMF Port Burgas - the main operator of the port in the city. That's 130,000 Ten Pound Equivalent Units (TEU) - the industry standard container size. Only a decade ago - in 2013, the processed TEUs were only 46,000. This growth gave the company more than a 50 percent market share in our country. BMF Port Burgas is also the largest employer in the region. At the port, work is currently underway on the construction of Bulgaria's first deep-sea berth for container ships, equipped to handle specialized Panamax vessels. The name comes from their size - the maximum allowed to pass through the Panama Canal. We are talking about vessels over 290 meters long and over 30 meters wide, carrying thousands of TEUs on their own. The shipyard should be ready in 2025.

"Doverie United Holding" JSC is moving towards closing the subsidiary company "Doverie - Griga" EAD, which produces Easy detergents and cleaning agents. The enterprise for the production of laundry and cleaning agents Easy is located in Troyan. "Doverie United Holding" acquired the manufacturer with the former name "Veko" Ltd in 2017. According to the latest report published in the Commercial Register for 2022, "Doverie - Griga" reports a loss of almost BGN 1.7 million compared to a loss for over BGN 2.5 million realized in 2021, over BGN 2.8 million in 2020 and over BGN 3.3 million in 2019, i.e. there is a downward trend in losses. However, the company was decapitalized due to accumulated losses of over BGN 13 million by the end of 2022.

The European Commission announced the sixth investment package within the EU's economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans. The new package is expected to mobilize EUR 1.2 billion in investments, the official website of the EC informs. It will support eight new flagship investments in water supply and sanitation, wastewater treatment and rail transport, as well as innovation and green transformation in small and medium-sized enterprises. It is planned that the investments will be realized in close cooperation with the partners from the Western Balkans and the international financial institutions. The €1.2 billion investment package includes €300 million in EU grants from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III), additional bilateral contributions from EU Member States and Norway, loans from international financial institutions and contributions from Western economies Balkans. So far, the EU has approved programs that are expected to mobilize up to €17.5 billion in investment under the Economic and Investment Plan, including €5.4 billion in EU grants.

Governments around the world owe an unprecedented $91 trillion, an amount almost equal to the size of the global economy and one that will ultimately take a heavy toll on populations. The debt burden has become so great, in part because of the cost of the pandemic, that it now poses a growing threat to living standards even in rich economies, including the United States, CNN Business writes. Yet, in an election year around the world, politicians have largely ignored the problem, unwilling to risk their constituents by raising taxes and finding it increasingly difficult to cut the spending needed to deal with the deluge of debt they have amassed. In some cases, they even make extravagant promises that could, at the very least, increase inflation again and even trigger another financial crisis. Last week, the International Monetary Fund reiterated its warning that "chronic fiscal deficits" in the US must be "urgently addressed." Investors have long shared this concern about the long-term trajectory of US government finances. As the world's debt burden grows, investors are growing anxious. In France, political turmoil has heightened concerns about the country's debt, pushing up bond yields, or the return required by investors. Sunday's first round of early elections showed that some of the market's worst fears may not come true. But even without the specter of an immediate financial crisis, investors are demanding higher yields to buy the debt of many governments as the gap between spending and taxes widens. Higher debt service costs mean less money is available for important public services or to respond to crises such as financial crashes, pandemics or wars. Because government bond yields are used to price other debt, such as mortgages, rising yields also mean higher borrowing costs for households and businesses, hurting economic growth. As interest rates rise, private investment declines and governments are less able to borrow to meet economic downturns. Addressing America's debt problem will require either tax increases or cuts to benefits such as Social Security and Medicare</em>programs," commented Karen Dinan, former chief economist at the US Treasury Department, now a professor at Harvard Kennedy School. Many politicians are not willing to talk about the difficult choices that will have to be made. These are very important decisions in people's lives. In 2010, many academics, politicians and central bankers came to the view that interest rates would simply be near zero forever and then began to think that debt was a free lunch.This has always been wrong because you can think of government debt as having a flexible rate mortgage and if interest rates go up, your interest payments go up a lot.In the United States, the federal government will spend $892 billion in interest payments this fiscal year - more than it budgeted for defense and rapprochement. to the budget for health insurance for the elderly and disabled. Next year, interest payments will exceed $1 trillion on the more than $30 trillion national debt, itself an amount roughly equal to the size of the U.S. economy, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Congress's fiscal watchdog. CBO projects US debt to reach 122% of GDP in just 10 years. And in 2054, debt is expected to reach 166% of GDP, slowing economic growth. Economists don't think there's a "predetermined level at which bad things happen in markets," but most think that if debt reaches 150% or 180% of gross domestic product. Despite growing concern about the federal government's debt pile, neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump, the 2024 presidential front-runners, are promising fiscal discipline ahead of the election. British politicians have also buried their heads in the sand ahead of Thursday's general election. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, an influential think tank, has condemned a "conspiracy of silence" between the country's two main political parties over the poor state of public finances. "Regardless of who takes office after the general election, they will - unless they're lucky - soon face a tough choice," says IFS director Paul Johnson. Raise taxes by more than they told us in their manifestos, or implement cuts in some areas of spending, or borrow more and be content to let the debt grow for longer. Countries trying to deal with the debt problem are really struggling. In Germany, Europe's largest economy, ongoing infighting over debt limits has put the country's three-party ruling coalition under enormous strain. The political standoff could come to a head this month. But the problem with delaying efforts to rein in debt is that it leaves governments vulnerable to far more painful discipline from financial markets. The United Kingdom is the most recent example of a large economy. Former prime minister Liz Truss caused the pound to crash in 2022 when she tried to push through big tax cuts financed by increased borrowing. And the threat hasn't gone away. The risk of a financial crisis in France became a major concern literally overnight after President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections last month. Investors worried that voters would elect a populist parliament determined to spend more and cut taxes, further increasing the country's already high debt and budget deficit. While that worst-case scenario now looks less likely, what will happen after the second round of voting next Sunday is far from certain. French government bond yields continued to rise, reaching their highest level in eight months. All this clearly shows us that the financial markets can quickly get "nervous" from a given political situation, which makes investors doubt the willingness of governments to repay their debts.

The Philippines' reliance on coal power rose to 62 percent last year, putting the island nation ahead of China, Indonesia and Poland on that metric, CNBC reported, citing research by London-based energy think tank Ember. The Philippines is also the most coal-dependent country in Southeast Asia in 2023 as the pace of renewable electricity adoption remains weak. The share of electricity generated from coal in the country rose to 61.9% last year, up from 59.1% in 2022. Overall, coal production in the country also rose by 9.7%, which is more than 4, The 6 percent increase in electricity demand, Ember's report states. “Coal has played an important role in the Philippines' energy security. In the 1990s, many new coal-fired power plants were built to meet the growing demand for electricity," Dinita Setyavati, senior energy policy analyst for Southeast Asia at Ember Climate, told CNBC. "Indonesia and the Philippines are the two most coal-dependent countries in Southeast Asia and their dependence is growing rapidly," the think tank said, adding that the Southeast Asian region saw a 2 percentage point increase in its dependence on coal to 33 percent from 31 % in 2022 China has made strides in reducing its reliance on the dirtiest fossil fuel for power generation, with demand in Asia's largest economy reaching 60.7% in 2023 – less than India (75 .2%) and Poland (61%). The world's largest coal producer, China, has made remarkable progress in developing renewable energy. As a result, the rate of increase in emissions has slowed, from an average of 9% per year between 2001 and 2015 to a 4.4% annual rate between 2016 and 2023, Ember points out, adding that the clean electricity contributed to 35% of China's total electricity production. Indonesia and the Philippines are still lagging behind in replacing coal as the main source of electricity, and increasing renewable energy in their mix is ​​paramount. Wind and solar power generation in the Philippines increased from just under 1 terawatt hour (TWh) in 2015 to 3.7 TWh last year. That's a significantly slower pace than growth in the rest of the region, where wind and solar power generation is set to rise by 46 TWh from 2015 to 2023 - largely thanks to Vietnam.