Financial news

Bulgaria's gross foreign debt shrank 0.8% on a monthly basis to EUR 37 B at the end of February and accounted for 107.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP), the central bank said on Monday. On an annual basis, the country’s gross domestic product fell by EUR 14.5 M, the data showed. Gross private debt edged down 0.9% to EUR 32.8 b on a monthly basis, while banks' foreign debt dropped by EUR 186.4 M on a monthly basis in February and fell EUR 1.1 B from a year ago. Public and publicly guaranteed external debt went up slightly in comparison with the previous month to EUR 4.2 B, or 12.3% of GDP, according to the data. Bulgaria forked out EUR 1.112 B to pay its gross foreign debt in February (3.2% of GDP) in comparison with EUR 1.4 B the previous year.

If the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant does not start within several months the foundation mattress of Unit 1 may crack because of atmospheric influence and will have to be conserved, vice president of Russian Atomstroyexport Gennady Tepkian warned. According to his estimates, the conservation process will cost over EUR 7.5 million. Bulgaria’s NEK should analyze the situation and decide if the conservation is necessary and, in case it is, find money for it, added deputy energy minister Maya Hristova. Atomstroyexport has already ordered a larger part of the equipment for the Belene plant. However, even if Bulgaria gives up the project it will not affect negatively the Russian company, because it is currently building nuclear plants in several other countries around the world and would be able to sell the equipment there, Tepkian commented.

	Mineral Fuels, Tailoring Products, Canning, Perfumery and Cosmetics, Furniture, Meat Products, Wine, Wood-processing Industry

Concessions

Fourteen firms and consortia are vying to pocket a bottom BGN 60 million a year to clean up the best part of Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia. Titans-AS, which currently services eight regions, plays with the most consortia. Seven of Sofia’s nine waste collectors are also back to the game, joined by a German, Romanian and Turkish suitor. Of Sofia’s current cleaners, only Saubermacher is out of the new race.  Through its three consortia, Titan-AS is racing for six zones, which represent 16 regions and a half. The company itself participates in just a single tie-up but its subsidiaries Nelson Chistota and Titan BKS.

Companies

BDZ transports customers with illegal locomotives and wagons. A big part of the railway rolling stock of the carrier is with expired safety certificates and has not passed technical review. From a total of 320 operative locomotives, 300 have no documents that are safe. Half of the wagons are also without a certificate. The Transport Ministry confirmed the information. It turns out that out of 5000 freight wagons in BDZ, only 1300 are certified for safety. Passenger wagons are 430 at the moment. Of these, however, only 230 have a certificate. Out of the 20 old electric trains only 2 have proof of safety. BDZ itself does not have a safety certificate. Competitors of BDZ will probably send a letter to Minister Alexander Tsvetkov and will request a meeting with him in the coming days.

Negotiations between Bulgaria’s state-run Bulgargaz and Russia’s gas major Gazprom over gas supplies without middlemen have ended in deadlocks, Bulgargaz executive director Dimitar Gogov told. Gazprom Export, a subsidiary of the Russian monopoly, has delayed meetings to forge out contract details, with Gogov resorting to seeking assistance from Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller to hold a new round of talks. Gogov said yesterday that even if the negotiating parties fail to find common ground and Bulgaria is stripped of this volumes, there would not be any tough consequences as the recession has squeezed consumption.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will invest 75 million euro in the construction of nine small hydro power plants on the Iskar River. The total cost of the project amounts to 115 million euro. The facilities will be built in the Svoge and Mezdra municipalities. The contract was formulated between the EBRD and the Svoge hydro power plant. Two facilities are already completed, one at Svrajen and the other at Lakatnik, as part of phase one, the report said. "We have achieved very positive results, by having them operational and linked to the grid. At the time of a global economic downturn, we are hoping on continued co-operation with EBRD over the next few years," Sergio Bortolotti, president of Petrolvilla Group, said after the documents were signed.

EUR 860 million would cost the decommissioning of two units of the Kozloduy NPP until 2013, Jeffrey Van Orden, MEP and speaker in the European Parliament on Bulgaria's progress on its path to EU membership said during round table on “Belene NPP project and European energy security: Bulgarian dilemmas”. According to Order closure of the two units, has previously been unnecessary and this has led to increasing use of polluting lignite coals, the reduction of energy exports of Bulgaria and increasing prices of electricity.

A new distiller will be launched at the Deven thermal power station, a unit of Belgian-owned Solvay Sodi, the company announced. The new installation is part of a BGN 150 M project, which aims to increase the production capacity of the soda ash maker. The distiller will help the plant cut ammonia emissions to levels completely compatible with EU rules, the company said. Solvay Sodi, based in Devnia, has vowed to invest a total of BGN 300 M in the plant over a period of three years, starting in 2007.

Europe

Bank of Ireland has announced plans to raise 3.4bn euros in order to help its recovery from the financial crisis. The Irish Republic's biggest lender said it would raise up to 1.9bn euros through a rights issue. The bank hopes to raise the rest of the money by placing shares with institutional investors, and through a debt-for-equity swap. Bank of Ireland was told to raise 2.7bn euros by financial regulators in March. The move is the latest stage in the recovery of the Republic's banking sector following a government bail-out in the wake of the global financial crisis. Irish lenders were hit hard by the collapse in the property market, which saw billions of euros-worth of home loans go bad.

America

The federal government took its first step towards unloading its remaining stake in Citigroup, unveiling plans to sell up to 1.5 billion shares in the banking giant. The U.S. government currently owns approximately 7.7 billion shares, or about a 27% stake in the New York City-based bank. A sale of the 1.5 billion shares would cut the government's holdings to just under 22%. The sale of the 1.5 billion shares would likely generate a return for American taxpayers, based on where Citi stock has been trading recently. Selling the stock at Friday's closing price of $4.86 would lead to a profit of approximately $2.4 billion. The government converted its preferred-share stake into common stock when Citi shares were hovering at $3.25.

Asia

Canon Inc., the world’s biggest maker of cameras and office equipment, raised its full-year forecasts for profit and revenue, as Asia sales drive growth. Net income will probably be 240 billion yen ($2.55 billion) in the year ending Dec. 31, Tokyo-based Canon said today. Sales of compact cameras in China and single-lens-reflex models in the U.S. are helping the maker of the EOS and PowerShot cameras boost earnings. Worldwide sales of digital cameras increased 43 percent in the first two months this year. The market for office printers will probably recover throughout 2010, according to researcher IDC. Full-year operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, may be 360 billion yen compared with an earlier forecast of 330 billion yen.

30 years Bulgarian Industrial Association

The Bulgarian Industrial Association - Union of the Bulgarian Business, founded in 1980, is a voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization of the Bulgarian business and industry.
BIA members incorporates more than 100 branch (sector) organizations, 26 regional and 79 municipal associations. Other collective members are also the Central Cooperative Union, Central Union of the Worker Producers’ Cooperatives, Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, Confederation “Union of the Bulgarian Industry”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Universities, Scientific and Technical Unions, etc. 263 out of 20000 member firms are among the top 300 largest companies in Bulgaria.
BIA is a nationally recognized employers' organization according to the Labour Code. BIA is a member of different consultative committees on national level, of supervisory and administrative bodies of the governmental and municipal institutions, among which are: National Council for Tripartite Cooperation, Council for Economic Growth at the Council of Ministers, Council on Taxation Policy to the Financial Minister, Economic and Social Council, National Social Security Institute, National Health Insurance Fund, etc.
BIA is a member of BUSINESSEUROPE – The Confederation of European Business, ICC - International Chamber of Commerce, IOE - International Organization of Employers. BIA takes also an active part in the work of ILO – International Labour Organization, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), South Eastern Europe Employers' Forum (SEEEF), International Trade Center (ITC/UNCTAD/WTO and WEC – World Ecological Center in Washington The Association cooperates with over 70 national employers' organizations from the most developed countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa. BIA is one of the initiators for the establishment of and has co-chaired the EU-Bulgaria Joint Consultative Committee for two consecutive mandates.

On that day:  Pencho Slaveikov’s Birthday Fotinovo Village