The average monthly pension of a pensioner in Bulgaria is 931.94 leva or 102.22 leva (12.3%) higher than a year earlier, the National Social Security Institute (NSI) announced. The number of pensioners for May 2025 is 2,055,861, which is an increase of 13,471 (0.7%) compared to the same month in May 2024. The total amount of reported revenues under the consolidated budget of the state social security as of May 2025 amounts to 5,957.0 million leva, which represents 39.2% implementation of the plan for the year. The revenues received are 742.9 million leva more than in the same period in 2024. The total reported expenses for the first five months of the year amount to 10,817.7 million. BGN, which is 39.5% of what was planned for 2025. Compared to the same period last year, expenses increased by BGN 1,155.8 million.

Plot of 111 decares with a newly built 4.9 MWp photovoltaic plant (56 decares) and an adjacent free plot (55 decares) with development potential at a key location in the city of Blagoevgrad

Dragan Solak, founder of United Group, which owns Vivacom and Nova TV in Bulgaria, has filed a lawsuit with the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam over his involvement as the company's chief supervisor. He has also asked the Dutch Chamber of Commerce at the Court of Appeal to open an investigation into a serious governance crisis at the company he founded 25 years ago. A request for immediate interim measures has also been filed, which, if approved, could freeze changes in the management of United Group. In the lawsuit against United Group, Solak claims that he and CEO Victoria Boklag were abruptly fired last week as an act of retaliation for taking earlier legal action in London against United Group's holding company for failure to pay bonuses due under a signed contract. Solak's claim is for 250 million euros for the agreed sale of telecommunications subsidiaries in Serbia worth 1.5 billion euros. After the lawsuit was filed, BC Partners, a London-based fund with which Sholak is a partner in United Group, decided unilaterally and without notice to make management changes. According to Sholak, who has a 40% stake in United Group, this violates the principles of corporate governance under Dutch law and has immediate and long-term adverse consequences for United Group's operations.

The rapidly developing chain of small neighborhood supermarkets in our country - Minimart, opens its 100th store in Sofia, and by the end of the year they are expected to have a total of 300 stores in Bulgaria. The company BCG AD is already considering entering foreign markets and is negotiating with potential new partners abroad, on the principle of a franchise. Investments in the brand's new stores in our country in 2025 exceed 40 million leva. Between 90,000 euros and 100,000 euros is the average investment in a Minimart store, with the goods included in it. The business model is investing in a dense network of convenient grocery stores with a sales area of ​​between 50 and 120 sq. m., which are located in the busiest city locations - in close proximity to public transport stops, on busy pedestrian streets, next to schools, universities, office, residential or public buildings. The stores are present in small and large cities such as Sofia, Pernik, Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Blagoevgrad, Pleven, Pazardzhik, Asenovgrad, Yambol, Pomorie and many more. The concept is to be close to a highway or major road arteries.

The German company Lindner announced a new investment of 100 million leva in the under-construction "Lozen Tech Park" and its adjacent residential and infrastructure area. Of the new investment, 20 million leva will be invested in the construction of 2 new buildings within the technology park, as well as in the related infrastructure - amphitheaters, green areas and playgrounds. The remaining 80 million leva will be directed to the third stage of the residential park, part of the wider "Lozen Park" project. With this step, the total amount of investments in the project reaches 235 million leva. The final concept of "Lozen Park" includes a technology park with a total of 15 buildings, a residential area, educational and sports infrastructure - built according to the vision of a "city within a city" and a "city of short distances". The project officially launched with Phase 1 of "Lozen Tech Park" in June 2023. It was announced then that it includes 2 buildings with offices and commercial areas, including a shop, a restaurant, a canteen and cafes, as well as underground parking and extensive green areas for walking and recreation. The land has an area of ​​8913 sq m and a gross floor area of ​​about 7600 sq m. m. It is expected that the first 2 buildings of the technology park, the investment in which is 20 million leva, as well as the new German school, financed with another 15 million leva, will open their doors in September this year. The school will be part of the educational segment of the park, along with planned sports facilities and areas for active recreation. Lindner Group CEO Helmut Lang emphasized that the company is a long-term investor in Bulgaria, with over 700 million leva invested over the past 30 years.

Eurobess Gigafactory AD - Sofia has submitted an investment proposal to the Municipal Council of Bobov Dol for the construction of a modern factory for the production of battery systems for energy storage worth 150 million euros. The investor, represented by Yordan Velchev, is seeking cooperation from the municipality in searching for a suitable site. The planned production capacity of the factory is an impressive 5,000 MWh per year. The implementation of the project is expected to create 100 new jobs, which will give a significant boost to the local economy. Eurobess Gigafactory was registered in April this year with a capital of 50,000 leva, indicating that 60% of the necessary financing for the future factory will come from the European Innovation Fund. The remaining part will be provided through equity capital and debt. The factory itself will be powered entirely by solar energy and micro-grid systems.

Eleven Capital AD is distributing a gross dividend of 0.7 BGN from the profit for 2024, the company's shareholders decided in a vote at a regular general meeting. The total amount that the company is distributing as remuneration to shareholders amounts to 1,611,069.60 BGN. The remainder of the profit, 7,795,915.14 BGN, will be carried forward as undistributed profit from previous years.

The first fintech company in the BEAM segment, ITF Group, will pay a dividend for the second consecutive year. The general meeting of shareholders decided to distribute part of the profit in the amount of BGN 0.3428571 per share gross compared to BGN 0.114286 for 2023. In 2024, the company reported a growth of over 60% in revenues to BGN 26.3 million and a 74% increase in profit before taxes to BGN 4 million compared to just over BGN 2 million a year earlier. In 2019, the company issued a bond issue in the amount of BGN 5 million with a maturity of seven years, which were listed for trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange-Sofia. In December 2022, the company successfully listed its shares for trading on the BEAM segment of the exchange. In April last year, ITF placed a second bond issue in the amount of 3.9 million euros, with investor interest exceeding the requested amount. In April this year, the company issued a third bond issue in the amount of 8 million euros, which enabled ITF to continue developing its business through growth in market presence and client portfolio. As of June 13, 2025, the bonds from the third issue are also now traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The General Meeting of Shareholders voted on the proposal to increase the number of board members from three to five people. Donka Angelova was dismissed from the board. The company's financial director Yuliana Muteva, operational director Diyan Georgiev and financial and accounting expert Zornitsa Staynova were appointed as new members.

Imports of energy products into the EU in the first quarter of 2025, compared to the same period last year, grew in monetary value - by 0.3 percent, but decreased in volume - by 3.9 percent. This is according to the latest data from the European statistical agency Eurostat. Regarding oil imports into the EU, a decrease was recorded in both value (11.9 percent) and volume (8 percent) in the first quarter on an annual basis. However, imports of liquefied gas recorded a sharp increase, jumping in monetary terms by 45.3 percent and in volume - by 12.1 percent. Gas imported through pipelines grew in value - by 19 percent, but its volume was 12.1 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2024. The average monthly values ​​in January - March 2025 compared to the average values ​​in each of the months of 2024. show a decline in imports of petroleum oils by 9.4 percent in monetary value and by 7.1 percent in volume. Over the same period, imports of liquefied natural gas registered a significant jump – by 55 percent in value and by 24.7 percent in volume, while imports of pipeline gas grew by 6.4 and 13.8 percent, respectively. In the first quarter of 2025, the largest importers of petroleum oils in the EU were the USA (with a share of 15 percent in monetary value), Norway (13.5 percent) and Kazakhstan (12.7 percent). At the same time, half of the EU's imports of liquefied gas came from the USA (50.7 percent in monetary value), followed by Russia (17 percent) and Qatar (10.8 percent). The EU imported the largest amount of natural gas through pipelines in the first quarter from Norway (52.6 percent), Algeria (19.4 percent) and Russia (11.1 percent).

The US Federal Reserve has unveiled plans to repeal a key capital rule that it says limits big banks’ ability to hold more government securities and act as intermediaries in a $29 trillion market, Bloomberg reported. The financial institution’s board of directors voted on a proposal to change the so-called “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio” (eSLR), which applies to the largest US banks such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. The proposed changes would reduce the capital requirements of holding companies under this ratio to a range of 3.5% to 4.5% from the current 5%. For their subsidiary banks, the requirement would be reduced from 6% to the same range. “The proposal would help build resilience in US government securities markets by reducing the likelihood of market disruption and the need for the Federal Reserve to intervene in the event of a future stress event,” said Michelle Bowman, the central bank’s new vice chairman for supervision. Bowman’s predecessor, Michael Barr, opposed the plan, which he said would weaken the eSLR and reduce bank-level capital by $210 billion for key U.S. banks. “Taken together, these changes would significantly increase the risk of failure, make orderly resolution impossible, and expose the Deposit Insurance Corporation to greater losses,” Barr said. The proposal is a partial victory for banks, which had been calling on the Fed to exclude certain assets such as Treasuries from calculating the ratio. “The challenge for regulators is how to address the narrow question of how to ensure that banks can support the Treasuries market without jeopardizing financial stability or allowing banks to distribute excess capital to shareholders,” said Graham Steele, an expert who served in the Treasury Department under Joe Biden. He said regulators should consider more targeted solutions that could mitigate market problems. In 2020, the Fed temporarily eased the leverage ratio in response to the economic and financial turmoil caused by the Covid-19 crisis, with the aim of freeing up lending for consumers and businesses.

China's first independently developed ultra-deepwater gas field, Shenhai-1, has reached full production capacity, operator China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) said on Monday. This makes it the country's largest offshore gas field by output, statistics show. All 23 subsea wells in the field are now in operation, reaching a peak daily capacity of 15 million cubic meters. "The full commissioning is a key step for China to achieve large-scale deepwater oil and gas development through the construction of deepwater gas field clusters," CNOOC said. This is important for ensuring national energy security, boosting regional economic development and building a strong maritime nation. Shenhai-1 was developed in two stages, with the first stage activities starting on June 25, 2021. The field has proven natural gas reserves of over 150 billion cubic meters. Activities are at a depth of less than 1,500 meters, with the well depth exceeding 5,000 meters. CNOOC describes Shenhai-1 as the deepest and most challenging gas field of its type in China developed to date, with temperature and pressure levels exceeding those previously known. With all wells in operation, the field has reached its maximum design capacity, with an expected annual gas production exceeding 4.5 billion cubic meters of deepwater natural gas is transported through onshore terminals in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Sanya in Hainan, and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province. From there, it supplies industrial and residential users in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Hainan Free Trade Port. The latter is also connected to the national gas pipeline network.