Bad and restructured loans in the Bulgarian banking system reported a new record jump in April. These increased by more than 1% or BGN 424 mln. Moreover, these already stand at 13.7% of all loans granted, compared to 12.5 % in March, showed BNB (Bulgarian National Bank) data. In April, non-performing loans amounted to BGN 5.3 bn. Such growth has not been registered in the past 10 months, according to data of the National Treasury. In June 2009, these increased by BGN 511 mln in a single month. Outstanding corporate liabilities in April were 13.59% or nearly BGN 2.95 bn, consumer debt stood at 14.46% (BGN 1.108 bn) and overdue housing liabilities were 12.61% (BGN 1.073 bn).
Bulgaria's gross external debt stood at EUR 37.15 B in March, down by 0.2% from the previous month and up 0.8% on an annual basis, a report by the Bulgarian National Bank showed Thursday. The government's external debt fell by EUR 30.1 M to EUR 2.83 B, which was 8.2% of GDP in March. The increase has been attributed to the Development Policy Loans received from the World Bank in April and June 2009, the central bank said. For the January to March period, gross external debt service was 4.9% of GDP or EUR 1.68 billion versus EUR 2.2 billion last year.
Bulgarian company Di Ven SPLTD - Lom, one of the founders of industrial clusters Electromobiles (IKEM), presented the first electric light-duty Bulgarian electromobile during the machine-building exhibition Mach-Tech Expo 2010 in Sofia. The electric car model ETK 021 from the series PONY is light-duty car, powered by rechargeable batteries.
Source: ComputerWorld e-Daily
After 4-years of problems with MEW, Elresource JSC received a permit for utilization of out-of-use electrical and electronic equipment through a decision by the Minister of Environment Nona Karadjova on May 21. The company was founded in July 2006 by the national employers' organizations BIA, BCCI, BICA, SSI, unions, industry associations for electronics, electrical engineering and information technology, and large companies and retail chains. " Elresource was the first company created for the utilization of waste electrical and electronic equipment. For the disappointment of our founders, we became a victim of unfair action by the former Minister of Environment and Waters Dzhevdet Chakarov, who refused to give us permission to operate for over 3 years, Elresource said.
Source: Pari
Ministry of Agriculture and Food will pay its obligations to the company Irrigation Systems, through a loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank, said the Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov. According to him, Irrigation Systems will continue to operate, but after an optimization of the staff. State obligations to the company are worth about BGN 8 million and were accumulated by the previous government. The returned money will be used to pay salaries and payment of obligations to suppliers of equipment.
Source: Darik radio
Shareholders of the Bulgarian credit rating agency Global Ratings and National Credit Rating Agency (NCRA) signed in late May a merger agreement, establishing a new credit rating agency - Credit Ratings and Analysis Agency (CRAA). Registration of the new agency in the Commercial Register is yet to come. Credit Ratings and Analysis Agency is expected to hold about 50% of the national market in credit ratings. Ownership of CRAA shall be distributed among the shareholders of Global Ratings and the National Credit Rating Agency.
Main shareholders in the first company are Elana Holding and Sofconsulting and in the second - Business Advisory Group.
The tourist complex Zlatna Perla (Golden Pearl) near Varvara, on the Black Sea Coast, will be razed to the ground, Regional Development Minister Rossen Plevneliev told. The vast construction in question was never fully completed. It was built in Stranja, which is a natural park and a protected area in the country. Following an investigation, the Inspectorate of the National Construction Control (INCC) said that the facility had been built illegally. "All the evidence that we need has been collected. This has been a recurring issue for a long time," Plevneliev said.
Traycho Traykov, Bulgarian Minister of Economy, Energy, and Transport, announced that the misappropriations in Sunny Beach JSC will be given to the Prosecutor’s Office, Focus News Agency reported. According to him, the new management has the will, determination, and vision to resolve the issue with the infrastructure in Sunny Beach. Minister Traykov said that the income of Sunny Beach was BGN 10 million but the available funds were only BGN 10 thousand. “The previous two governments did not want and could not change the management, which instead of taking care of the infrastructure was draining millions of BGN, and made us take care of the infrastructure ourselves,” Elena Ivanova, Chairperson of the Union of Hotel Owners in Sunny Beach, said.
Source: Focus agency
Overgas is not negotiating a new contract with Bulgargaz because it considers the the State company a parasite structure, the Ovegas CEO, Sasho Donchev, told reporters Thursday. The contract for the supply of 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas expires at the end of 2010. A month ago, the Bulgargaz Director, Dimitar Gogov, said talks with the Russian Gazprom, which owes 50% of Overgas, for future
supplies are stale. Donchev explains that in 2011, his company will enter the free energy market and will deliver gas directly to consumers paying only the transportation fee to the State-owned transmission company Bulgartransgaz.
Britain and France were at odds with other European Union countries over plans to insure against future bank failures, in another sign of the problems in trying to forge a common response to the bloc’s economic woes. Michel Barnier, EU internal market commissioner, set out plans for member states to form national funds to help wind up or reorganise failing banks, funded by a levy on the financial sector. London rejected the idea, arguing it would introduce “moral hazard” and encourage banks to think the levy was an insurance premium that entitled them to help if they got into trouble. French officials said Paris had similar concerns.
But German finance ministry officials said the package appeared to be “moving in the right direction”. Wolfgang Schäuble, finance minister, wanted German banks to pay about ˆ1bn per year into a separate fund to wind down troubled banks.
The US government made a profit of about $1.3bn on the sale of the first tranche of its 27 per cent investment in Citigroup and intends to sell more of the shares in the market in the next few months. The moves are part of the authoritiesÂ’ efforts to put an end to their part-ownership of the US financial giant, which was forced to cede 7.7bn shares to the US Treasury in return for several bail-outs during the financial crisis. The Treasury said its advisers Morgan Stanley had completed the sale of 1.5bn Citi shares, or about 5 per cent of the company, to investors, and had decided to sell another 1.5bn shares in the market before the end of June.
The authorities netted a profit of about 88 cents a share, totalling more than $1.3bn.
China, the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, denied a media report saying it was reviewing its holdings of eurozone debt, calling the report "baseless". The Financial Times earlier said China was reviewing its eurozone debt holdings in view of the accelerating crisis in Europe, saying officials from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) had met foreign bankers on the issue in Beijing in recent days. SAFE responded on its website: "The report is baseless." "China's foreign exchange reserves (agency), as a responsible long-term investor, has always held a diversified investment strategy. "The European
market was and is one of the most important investment markets for (China's) foreign exchange reserves and will remain so in the future.
The Borovo Silver Treasure was discovered by change in late December 1974 by a tractor-driver, who was working on the Belene hill, near Borovo. A total of five luxurious drinking vessels, made of gold-gilted silver, were found: three rhytons, ending in the protomes of a horse, a bull and a sphinx; one two-handled bowl in the center of which a deer attacked by a griffin is depicted in relief; and one richly ornamented silver jugglet, with two bands in relief depicting scenes connected with the cult of Dionysus. On two of the rhytons, inscription in Greek letters were found, connecting the treasure to the Odryssaean king Kotys I, who reigned the Odrysseaean Kingdom from 383 to 359 BC. The vessels are thought to have been made in the town of Beos, located on the shore of the Marble Sea, in Southeastern Thracia. Later on, further archeological excavations were made at the spot,
where the treasure was found, revealing there were no buildings or tombs nearby, which made specialists conclude the treasure had most probably been hidden. Some scientists believe the Rogozen and Borovo treasures are a part of one big royal treasure, whose owner was forced to hide it. He buried most of it near Rogozen, but kept the rhytons (the royal vessels). Later on, he was forced to bury them too near Borovo. The treasure is dated to IV century BC.
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The Borovo Silver Treasure was discovered by change in late December 1974 by a tractor-driver, who was working on the Belene hill, near Borovo. A total of five luxurious drinking vessels, made of gold-gilted silver, were found: three rhytons, ending in the protomes of a horse, a bull and a sphinx; one two-handled bowl in the center of which a deer attacked by a griffin is depicted in relief; and one richly ornamented silver jugglet, with two bands in relief depicting scenes connected with the cult of Dionysus. On two of the rhytons, inscription in Greek letters were found, connecting the treasure to the Odryssaean king Kotys I, who reigned the Odrysseaean Kingdom from 383 to 359 BC. The vessels are thought to have been made in the town of Beos, located on the shore of the Marble Sea, in Southeastern Thracia. Later on, further archeological excavations were made at the spot,
where the treasure was found, revealing there were no buildings or tombs nearby, which made specialists conclude the treasure had most probably been hidden. Some scientists believe the Rogozen and Borovo treasures are a part of one big royal treasure, whose owner was forced to hide it. He buried most of it near Rogozen, but kept the rhytons (the royal vessels). Later on, he was forced to bury them too near Borovo. The treasure is dated to IV century BC.