Financial news

For the first time since the economy imploded, foreign capital withdrawal surpassed fresh investment into the Bulgarian economy. Foreign direct investment (FDI) for the first quarter of 2010 shrank by EUR 21.9 million, which speaks for 0.1% of GDP, according to preliminary data by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). The estimates could be revised at a later stage. For the corresponding period of 2009, Bulgaria’s FDI added up to EUR 926 million, or 2.7% of GDP. March’s withdrawal of EUR 168.8 million erases the modest surpluses made in January and February. Theoretically, the shrinkage could be attributed to payment of intercompany debt to foreign headquarters, profit distribution or write-downs from previous periods.

Bank lending will rise by 4% in 2010, matching its 2009 pace, economists from UniCredit Bulbank predict in their latest report on the local bank sector. In late March this year, household and business credits slowed down to 2.7% a year. In 2011, the lending market will stabilize and even see debts rising by 8%. In 2012, growth dynamics in the lending business will anchor at 11%.

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

Companies

The Russian company Atomstroyexport will file a claim against the Bulgarian government over the delays in the construction of the Belene NPP. In the same time Minister of Economy and Energy Traycho Traykov opened an energy forum in Sofia. Traykov did not answer the question what will happen with the financial resources of the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) after its liquidation planned for the beginning of the summer. Currently 95% of BEH’s finances are deposited in Corporate Commercial Bank.

"All media bosses will be brought under the lights - the names of all owners of TV channels and radio stations in Bulgaria will be announced in public," PM Boyko Borissov said at the opening of the Sixth World Meeting of the Bulgarian Media. "Experts are working on a new law for the printed media, under which all owners of printed and electronic media in Bulgaria will be known to the public," Borissov added. "The Bulgarian government does not mess in media's work. All mass media in Bulgaria are working in a favorable environment and they are self-regulated. I can assure you that I won't side with any of the corporative arguments between the different media and their attempts to use the state as regulatory body," Borissov added.

The state will continue negotiations with the European Commission and European Parliament to extend the exploitation of five power stations, including Brikel controlled by companies of Hristo Kovachki. This was announced by the Deputy Environment Minister Evdokia Maneva after in the beginning of the month Bulgaria received a denial for the extend by two years of TPP-Maritsa 3 JSC in Dimitrovgrad, Brikel in Galabovo, TPP Bobov Dol, TPP Republika in Pernik and TPP Sliven. Unlike the other four plants, Brikel has been already exceeding the limit for its exploitation, and currently works over the permitted.

The company Carlsberg Bulgaria currently ranks second on the Bulgarian beer market, after Zagorka JSC, and ahead of Kamenitza JSC. The results were reported by the company's CEO, Aleksander Grancharov. Carlsberg Bulgaria now has 30% of beer market in the country. The 3 companies together have a 91% share of the market. In the first quarter of 2010, the leading brand of Carlsberg Bulgaria – Shumensko had reached a 19% market share while the other brands, particularly Tuborg and Pirinsko, have also increased their sales. Carlsberg Bulgaria is one of the top investors in the Shumen Region and in Bulgaria. In 2009 the company invested BGN 22 mln in the Shumen and the Blagoevgrad breweries and plans to invest another BGN 15 mln in 2010, rounding up the total investments there since 2004 to BGN 75 mln.

Spare parts abuse was found during an inspection in Mines Maritsa Iztok. On the territory of mine Troyanovo-Sever are found illegally stricken out parts that were not used in the production. The violation is in particularly large size, said inspectors. Stocks are at a total value of BGN 15 400. Spare parts were found in a van outside the warehouse.

The Bulgarian communications regulator has imposed fines on phone operators for a delay in implementing the number portability service. The regulatory body, the Communications Regulation Commission, slapped BGN 5 000 for each of the unsigned agreements, which aim to ease the portability of fixed and mobile numbers by introducing a one-stop-shop service. Bulgaria's first and biggest mobile operator Mtel, which signed earlier in the month an agreement to implement the wireless number portability service at one-stop-shop, urged last week its rivals to follow suit. The agreements have not yet been signed by Globul and the alternative telecoms.

3-5 June: Save Energy, Save Water, Save the Planet" Forum, NPC, Sofia

Europe

The Italian government is eyeing spending cuts worth € 27.6 billion over the next two years, a move similar to those recently announced by Spain and Portugal in order to re-establish market confidence in euro economies. "The measures which will make up the budget adjustment in the next two years will not be very different from those being taken by Paris, Madrid, London, Berlin and Lisbon," economy minister Giulio Tremonti told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. The deficit-capping measures, worth €13 billion in 2011 and more than €14.5 the following year, are expected to be approved by 1 June. They are to include salary cuts in the public sector, as in Spain and Portugal, and a freeze on hiring new staff. Italy's corruption-prone southern regions, which already face problems in the healthcare sector, may see Rome slash development funds and raise local taxes.

America

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Greek debt crisis was a European problem but one that could have hit U.S. banks if left unattended, a senior Republican senator said. "Chairman Bernanke explained what was going on in Europe, it was basically a European problem but with ramifications probably on a lot of our banks and our banking system if there was no intervention," Senator Richard Shelby told reporters after a closed-door briefing Bernanke provided lawmakers. The Fed chairman met with senators to counter concerns the Fed's decision to provide dollars to foreign central banks amounts to helping to bail out debt-strapped nations. The Fed's action buttressed a European-led $1 trillion plan to stop Greece's debt crisis from spreading.

Asia

The yuan has risen strongly against the euro and this appreciation will harm Chinese exporters, a Commerce Ministry official said. Pegged to a rising dollar, the yuan has appreciated against a trade-weighted basket of currencies in recent months, which many analysts believe could constrain the scope for a possible revaluation of the Chinese currency. Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian did not say how dollar strength might affect a long-awaited move to resume yuan appreciation, but he highlighted the impact of the weaker euro. "The yuan has risen about 14.5 percent against the euro during the past four months, which will increase cost pressure for Chinese exporters and also have a negative impact on China's exports to European countries," he told a news conference.

Yane Sandanski (18 May 1872 – 22 April 1915)

Yane Sandanski is one of the most famous and beloved fighters for the liberation of Macedonia, glorified in many songs, hero of tens of stories about his great heroic deeds, that people continue to tell even today. He was born on 18 May 1872 in the small village of Vlahi, situated on the western slopes of the Pirin mountain. In April 1901, he formed his first fighting group, beginning his almost 15-year-long revolutionary activity. After the death of Gotze Delchev, he became one of the voivodes of VMRO. In 1902, Yane Sandanski and a couple of his brothers-in-arms kidnapped the Protestant missionary Ellen Stone and asked for a 14-500-Turkish-lira ransom, initiating the so-called Ms. Stone Affair. Although they were pursued, they managed to get the ransom and used the money to buy weapons for their revolutionary fight. Ms. Stone was released and later on she read a series of lectures in America about the Macedonian cause. Sandanski was killed on 22 April 1915 in Pirin during a quarrel with another revolutionary group. He was buried 200 m away from the famous Rozhen monastery, and the following words are inscribed in his tombstone: “To live is to fight. The slave – for freedom, the free man – for perfection.”

On that day:  Port Bourgas Ivet Lalova Boris Hristov