Financial news

Bulgaria will not seek bailout from the International Monetary Fund and will not issue eurobonds because it does not need to, Finance Minister Djankov declared Friday. “There haven’t been talks with the IMF over the budget deficit and we don’t need any. The issuing of eurobonds is financially unjustified, and the government will not go ahead with such a measure in 2010,” said Simeon Djankov . “We expect a zero economic growth in the second quarter of 2010, and a positive growth of 1% by the end of the year. As the export increased in the recent months, the internal consumption is expected to follow suit in the middle of the summer,” said the Finance Minister.

“Russia wants to use the Bulgarian gas system for the needs of the South Stream gas pipeline,” said Pavel Oderov, Chief Coordinator of the project in Russian Gazprom yesterday. According to him, if the gas network is being used for fuel supplies to Greece the project would certainly be cheaper. “The request of Russia to use the transit tubes is being discussed with our Bulgarian partners,” Oderov said. He added that the proposal has not been rejected by the Bulgarian side so far. The pipeline is to be laid along the Black Sea bed and end at the Bulgarian coast in the region of the city of Varna. On our territory, the pipeline will branch into two mains conduits - the northern one which will lead to Serbia, Hungary and Austria, with a link to Slovenia. The southern one will transect to Greece and Italy. “We want to use the Bulgarian gas system for this direction because the existing pipeline is not operating to its full capacity,” said Oderov. 

What is missing in the “anti-crisis” recipe? Teodora Kamenova In the context of the deepening crisis in Europe, the vague measures suggested by the Bulgarian government seem even more hazardous. Up to this moment the “anti-crisis” formula has been changed repeatedly, even in a matter of a single day, and this has naturally led to confusion of both the business and the ordinary people. The need for effective actions is beyond doubt, but what are the aspects that the government strategy is lacking? Full text of the analysis You may send your comments to: bic@bia-bg.com

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Companies

Violations for BGN 127 million were found in Bulgarian State Railways after an inspection of the internal audit for the period from January 1, 2007 to September 30, 2009, said the Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov during parliamentary session. He added that these violations were related to uncollected receivables, breaches of public procurement law, as well as paid, but not supplying assets. The analysis of the financial and economic condition shows that the long-term obligations are increasing. At the end of 2007 they were BGN 207 million and to 30 September 2009 they reached BGN 555 million, as this is more than double increase for a year and nine months.

The Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova said on Friday that would give the results of the inspections in the two municipal companies Egida-Sofia and First multi-profile hospital for active treatment – Sofia to prosecutors. The verification shows that in Egida the cumulative losses are about BGN 714 thousand, as BGN 250 thousand are obligations from past periods, which means that since 2006 the company has not been managed well. From 2200 employees were reduced to 900 and the company is close to bankruptcy. There are large losses in First multi-profile hospital for active treatment, too. Inspections found payment of BGN 350 thousand to the company Higia OS Ltd. with which the hospital has no contract.

Bulgaria’s renewable energy firm Solarpro Holding, a spinout of mineral extracting and processing company Kaolin, has been entered in the pubic registry and is about to kick off trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) approved the company’s prospectus for a secondary offering at its Friday session. Solarpro has issued BGN 46.76 million worth of shares with a face value of BGN 1 apiece. They will start trading over the counter once the BSE’s management has given the go-ahead to their registration.

Bulgarian chain Sharlopov Hotels will unveil on May 16 its flagship foreign hotel, the company said. The four-star Palmenwald Schwarzwaldhof in Freudenstadt was purchased by the Bulgarian company back in 2007. It has been declared monument of culture and is one of Germany’s four that are allowed to function as hotels. The restoration spanned two and a half years and absorbed EUR 9 million. The hotel will offer Bulgarian cuisine. Sharlopov Hotels is the second Bulgarian chain from the sector to step on foreign soil. Albena AD operates the four-star Des Masques in a Swiss winter resort.

Siemens Energy has received an order from Bulgaria for erection of a combined cycle district heating power plant, the company announced. The customer is EVN (Energie Versorgung Niederosterreich), an energy and environmental services company headquartered in Maria Enzersdorf, Lower Austria. The power plant, to be built in the city of Plovdiv, is scheduled to start supplying approximately 50 megawatts of electricity and as much as 55 megawatts of district heat in late 2011. For the power plant Siemens will supply an SGT-700 gas turbine, an SST-300 steam turbine, a heat-recovery steam generator with supplementary firing, and other auxiliary systems. With the plant operating in combined cycle duty the turbines will cogenerate both power and district heat.

Europe

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann cast doubt on Greece's ability to repay its debt and said a USD 1 trillion euro zone rescue package will help stabilise Italy and Spain, while matters are "difficult" with Portugal. Ackermann, one of Europe's top bankers who has has helped to put together a private-sector bailout package for Greece, questioned the country's ability to turn itself around according to a transcript of the Maybrit Illner talkshow, which is set to be broadcast on German television ZDF on Thursday evening. Greece has been forced to implement tough austerity measures as a precondition for an international bailout, a move that has sparked widespread protests in the southern european country. Despite the turbulence, the euro zone remains stronger than the United States or England, Ackermann said.

America

The Senate voted to limit fees charged on credit and debit card transactions, and separately moved to overhaul the credit-rating business as part of a widening Wall Street reform bill. Both votes handed stinging defeats to the financial services industry, with the political climate in Washington increasingly hostile to the army of lobbyists that has been working for months to weaken and delay proposed reforms. Final approval of the Senate bill was widely expected next week. It would be the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression, coming more than a year and a half since the worst financial crisis in generations. President Barack Obama strongly backs tighter rules for banks and capital markets in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, which tipped the economy into a deep recession and led to huge taxpayer bailouts of banks.

Asia

Hong Kong’s economy expanded 8.2 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in four years, as exports and retail spending rebounded from the global crisis. The increase compared with the 8.3 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists. Growth was a revised 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. China’s economic comeback is driving the city’s growth, via a record 5.5 million visitor arrivals from the nation in the first quarter, inflows of capital and demand for exports. Hong Kong’s government aims to prevent a property bubble and is monitoring the risk that Europe’s debt crisis will damp overseas shipments and add to volatility in financial markets. “Hong Kong’s bouncing back on the recovery in global growth and trade,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Thracian sanctuary Harman Kaya

The Thracian sanctuary Harman Kaya was built on a plateau, around natural small 7 m deep cave. It is situated in the Eastern parts of Rodopi Mountain, in the region of Momchilgrad town. The inner space of the sacred complex includes a rocky summit with the cave. You can enter the sanctuary through a crack in the rocks, later shaped as an entrance with gate. There are well outlined walls of rooms and small round and rectangular water reservoirs in the complex. The outer space of the sanctuary consists of two hewn into the rocks platforms. The first is with 10 m diameter, and the second one – 15 m. According to the archaeological and astronomical researches, these rocky platforms were used for measuring the annual cycle of the sun and for setting the summer and winter solstice. Literally, Harman Kaya means Flat rock. The studies show that the rocky sanctuary was created abour 2000 BC.

On that day:  Svishtov monastery The protecting veil of the Holy Mother