While Bulgarian exports of goods shrank in 2023, companies that provide services to foreign customers have increased their results. Last year, the export of services from Bulgaria reached BGN 27.6 billion, Eurostat preliminary data show, which is about 15% of Bulgaria's GDP. Compared to 2022, the value has increased by more than 15%, and there is an increase in almost all types of services. The largest share of the amount was generated by the "travel" category - BGN 7.3 billion. Computer, telecommunication and information services together are in second place with the most revenues from abroad in 2023, namely BGN 6.7 billion. or just over 16% more compared to the previous one. For the previous years, specifically computer services made up at least two thirds of the value of the group (in 2022 they were BGN 4.2 billion). The third and fourth largest groups realize approximately BGN 4.8 billion each. These are transport (mainly passenger and freight), followed by a narrow margin of various business services. The two categories grew by 8% and 19% respectively on an annual basis. From business services, the main part is professional and consulting (legal, accounting, etc.), advertisements, surveys, etc. for a total value of BGN 2.4 billion, while another BGN 1.8 billion comes from technical services such as engineering and architecture, as well as commercial services. With a smaller contribution are insurance and pension services, income from intellectual property, maintenance and repairs, financial services, etc. The largest growth (167%) was reported by the otherwise relatively small group of companies that carry out processing activities based on foreign raw materials, without changing their ownership. More than half of the Bulgarian export of services (54%) is directed to EU countries. The top 3 markets are Germany, the UK and the USA. Bulgarian companies mainly export ICT and transport services to Germany; The USA and Great Britain are looking for ICT and business services from Bulgaria the most. The top 5 also includes Turkey, from where the revenues are realized almost entirely in the line of travel and transport; as well as Ireland, where the headquarters of many multinational companies are located. To some of them, Bulgarian companies provide mostly business and ICT services, it is clear from the data. For now, the export of services remains about 3 times smaller than that of goods, but it is developing relatively quickly - for the last 10 years, its value has increased by nearly 140%. In comparison, exports of goods, although larger in volume, grew by 104%. Bulgaria "buys" almost half less services from abroad than it exports - in 2023 the value of imports will be BGN 14.5 billion. The country has maintained a positive balance in trade in services for at least the last 10 years, for which there is data, and since the pandemic since then the plus has been steadily increasing. In 2023, the import is worth BGN 4.4 billion and comes mostly in the form of transport, trips of Bulgarians abroad and business services.

The Bulgarian government managed to place a record for its history as an issuer of foreign debt of around 4.35 billion euros. It is about three issues with different maturities, and within the day the state's consultants - BNP Paribas, Citi, ING and UniCredit, gathered and attracted considerable interest. In total, the orders exceeded 17 billion euros, which made it possible to achieve much more favorable conditions compared to the starting parameters. Bulgaria has not issued dollar debt for over 20 years, although there is demand for it from other CEE countries, with Poland, Hungary and Romania often resorting to them. The debt operation took place under time pressure, as next week - on September 3, an issue for 1.493 billion euros (about BGN 2.9 billion) matured. With the success of today's issues and the attracted over BGN 8.5 billion, the state practically secured not only the means for refinancing the maturity, but also its entire financing needs for the year, which also include covering the projected BGN 5.8 billion budget deficit. So far, through a series of auctions on the domestic market, the Ministry of Finance has already acquired BGN 1.7 billion, so the total assumed debt reaches about BGN 10.2 billion. The budget ceiling for new debt in 2024 is BGN 11.7 billion, but it does not must be reached. According to the emission calendar, it is planned to attract another BGN 1.15 billion by the end of the year, however, after the attracted external financing exceeds expectations, there may be changes in it.

The courier company "Speedy" is expanding its logistics centers in Bulgaria and Romania from the beginning of 2024 and is betting on the increasingly popular method of working with automatic post offices in both countries. Since the beginning of the year, the investments of the company, which is 70% owned by the French GeoPost, amount to BGN 25.5 million - evenly distributed between Bulgaria and Romania. The main part of them is in line with the expansion of the logistics centers - BGN 9.2 million. Investments in additional equipment and machines for the logistics centers - mainly in Romania - and for the network of post offices increase to BGN 7 million. The company is growing and renewing its fleet with BGN 7.2 million. With these investments, Speedy aims to increase its service capacity and increase the efficiency and quality of its operations by automating logistics processes. In the international markets, Speedy is focusing on Romania and Greece, where it expects to increase its supply volumes to and from these countries, although the company faces competition from new players in the region. For the first half of the year, the courier company reported BGN 253.1 million in revenue, or an annual growth of 13.2%. Net profit for the period grew by 17.1% to BGN 21.4 million.

The Municipality of Varna has chosen a builder for its long-awaited new Pencho Slaveykov library, but the company with the best offer, which was ranked first, is withdrawing from the tender. Thus, the administration moves to assign the second company in the ranking. The rejected candidate is a merger between "Planex" and "Planex Varna", whose ultimate sole owner is Hristo Dimitrov. In the fall of 2023, he entered local politics and became the chairman of the Municipal Council. The public procurement had an estimated price of BGN 64 million excluding VAT, and now it seems that it will cost BGN 61.7 million excluding VAT. The municipality will receive funding from the state for its project. Now the contract will go to the second-ranked Sofia company "Bulstroy Group", which offers a price of BGN 61.7 million. Thus, the construction of the library will be entrusted to "Bulstroy Group". The company is from Sofia and is owned by Georgi Evtimov. In 2023, it won a tender for over BGN 6 million for the construction of a parking lot in the capital's "Geo Milev" district, it was responsible for the renovation of the French High School in Sofia and is among the companies that concluded a framework agreement under a contract with the "Vitosha" district " for current repairs. Otherwise, he mainly deals with high-rise construction.

The Plovdiv company "Petex - 96" Ltd will renovate a building on Main Street in the city, into a hotel and a fast-breakfast restaurant. The emblematic building is a cultural monument, and the owners have received approval from the National Institute of National Statistics for the implementation of the project. The redevelopment will be completed by April 2025. The permit was issued by the "Central" district for major repairs, reconstruction and upgrading of the existing fourth category building, with an establishment below and a hotel on three upper floors. According to the project, the building at 13 Knyaz Alexander I Street is up to 13 meters high. The client of the project is the company "Petex - 96" Ltd, which is also the owner of the property, and the contractor of the site is the company "Construction Technologies". The company "Petex - 96" is one of the owners of the property. The company was established in 1996 for export, import, trade and other activities permitted by law, and is managed by Hristo Chiplakov. Ownership in the building was acquired by Unicreditbank and the former champion in the shepherd's jump Atanas Turev.

The Sofia investor "Agrocomplex - Kula" Ltd has submitted an investment proposal to RIOSV-Montana for the opening of an enterprise for fruit candies in Berkovitsa. The future enterprise will be located on the second floor of an existing building, and special equipment will be installed for the purpose of production. The main raw material that will be used for the production of the candies will be melon, and from the description in the investment proposal it is clear that the process is almost fully automated. The production line allows products to be rolled in oil and/or sugar-like coatings. "Agrocomplex - Kula" Ltd was registered in 2014 in the city of Sofia with a capital of BGN 2 and the main subject of activity is "development of animal husbandry, breeding of sheep and goats, production of agricultural products".

Gradus JSC registered a significant increase in profit for the half year in the consolidated report for the second quarter. The net profit since the beginning of the year amounted to BGN 20.88 million, which is a five-fold increase compared to the same period last year, when it was only BGN 3.8 million. Revenues from sales of production for the reporting period are up 24% compared to the same period in 2023. Operating expenses are up less than a percent compared to the same period in 2023.

Although Bulgaria is among the leaders in the production of cereals in the European Union, Eurostat data for last year show sharp declines in almost all economic indicators of our agriculture. In 2021, the gross added value (GVA) of Bulgarian agriculture made up as much as 5 percent of the total GVA of our economy. In 2022, the agricultural sector already provides 4.3 percent of added value. According to Eurostat data, the growth of the share of the gross added value of the agricultural sector in Bulgaria last year was only 1%, while in neighboring Greece it was 3.1%. The comparative data on the average annual income of a farmer show that if for Europe the index for these incomes is 95.9, then Greek farmers are quite favored because their index reaches 97.9 points. At the same time, the average annual income of the Bulgarian farmer is only 74.5 points. For comparison - in the Czech Republic, the index of these incomes is 79, in Croatia - 90.1, and in Germany - 95.2 points. The value of annual plant production in Greece last year was calculated at 3.4%, while in Bulgaria it was only 1.3%. The situation is similar with the value from livestock breeding - in our country it is 0.6 percent, while in Greece it is 1.5 percent. Regarding the population of cattle and pigs, both countries have the same percentages - 0.8 and 0.6. The number of registered farms in Greece is 530,680, and in Bulgaria there are only 132,740. Bulgaria is ahead of Greece only in terms of the number of small farms with a standard production volume of less than 8 thousand euros - in our country these farms make up 67.3%, while in our southern neighbor is 63.3%. In all other indicators, however, we are far behind. While Bulgarian family farms make up only 84.5% of the total number, in Greece they are 96.9 percent - or almost all farms are family farms. In terms of rejuvenation, however, native farmers win because in our country 9 percent of farms are managed by people under 40 years old, while in Greece this percentage is 3.5%. There are also more people over 55 managing farms in Greece than in Bulgaria. There, 64.8 percent of farms are managed by people with more experience, while in our country this percentage is 54.9. In Bulgaria, a serious growth of managers with agrarian education can be seen - 9% of farms are managed by people who have completed the relevant professional training, while in Greece only 0.7 percent of farm managers have the necessary professional training.

According to research by Finbold, the US accumulated an average of 62,607 debt every second between January 1 and August 27, 2024. At the beginning of 2024, the total US public debt stood at 33.96 trillion. dollars, and by the end of August it grew to 35.25 trillion. dollar. The total increase amounts to 1.29 trillion. dollars, which means that the country has borrowed an average of 5.4 billion dollars for each of the past 240 days of the year. Although the numbers are in line with those seen since 2020 - US debt stood at $23.2 trillion. dollars at the end of 2019 and jumped by more than 10 trillion. dollar by the end of 2023, 2024 is unlikely to match one of the worst years in history for the country's indebtedness. At the current rate, US debt in 2024 is likely to grow by just under $2.6 trillion. dollars, similar to the previous year. This represents a significant slowdown from the increase of 4.5 trillion. dollars in 2020. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is issuing increasingly strict warnings about the country's unsustainable debt. Also, when broken down per capita, the burden has grown by roughly 7% per year since the Great Recession of 2008, according to earlier Finbold research, and has reached $109,000 by the end of 2023. The upcoming presidential election is also likely to have a significant impact on US debt, at least on a superficial level. A second Trump administration is likely to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2018, but is unlikely to significantly reduce government spending, at least initially. Indeed, sufficient cuts in government spending to offset the loss of revenue from the tax cuts will remain uncertain, as they will require significant cuts in investment in infrastructure, education, various social services, the defense budget—the least likely target for cuts , etc. The Harris administration, on the other hand, could potentially lower the borrowing rate, given that the proposed tax plan would do some work to narrow the gap between revenue and spending and potentially reduce the deficit that in fiscal 2024 is expected to amount to about 2 trillion. dollar. However, the reduction would only be noticeable if there were no other drastic changes. A Democratic administration will likely seek to increase both revenue and spending while looking for opportunities to cut taxes in other areas. Because of this, the pace of government borrowing is unlikely to slow.

An index of leading indicators measuring future economic activity in Japan weakened less than initially forecast in June, but fell to its lowest level since the start of the year. This was reported by DPA, citing the latest data from the Japanese government. The forecast index fell to 109 points in June from 111.1 points in the previous month. Preliminary data pointed to a slightly more significant decrease in the index of leading indicators in June - to 108.6 points. Moreover, this is the lowest reading of the index since November 2023, when it was at the level of 109 points. The leading indicators index published by the Japanese government consists of 12 sub-indices, such as the account inventory ratio, machinery orders, stock prices and other leading economic indicators. The composite economic index, part of the leading indicators index, fell to a four-month low of 113.2 points in June, compared with 117.1 points in May. Preliminary data showed an even more significant drop – to 113.7 points. The corresponding economic index reflects the current state of the Japanese economy. The "lagging" economic index also fell to 107.8 points in June – slightly revised upwards from the initially reported 106.7 points. In May, the indicator reached 108.5 points. Unlike the leading index and the matching economic index, the lagging economic index reflects the results of economic changes, usually showing movements after economic trends have already become apparent.