A budget surplus of BGN 163.5 million is reported by the Ministry of Finance at the end of the year. The data are preliminary and the final ones will be published at the end of January 2019. A budget surplus was BGN 2.4 billion a month ago, but drastically shrank after the end-of-year blowout. In December, the government handed over a billion BGN. The main part went to construction and repair of roads and the largest amount - BGN 1.35 billion was earmarked for the continuation of the construction of the Hemus highway. At the end of 2018, the positive balance on the consolidated fiscal program was BGN 163.5 million or 0.2% of the projected GDP.

Mortgage loans continued to fall cheaper in November 2018, according to BNB statistics. Interest rates on consumer loans, however, go up for the fifth consecutive month. The return on deposits continues to decline. Real yield is already negative because it is below inflation, which is about 3.3% ин 2018, according to data. The average interest rate on BGN deposits for one year - in November 2018 compared to November 2017, dropped by a further 0.15 percentage point to 0.09%. With those in EUR it fell by 0.04 percentage points. to 0.03%. For one year the average interest rate on mortgage loans decreased by another 0.56 percentage points to 3.24%. The decline in EUR-denominated mortgage loans declined by 0.41 percentage points to 3.72%. Annual mortgage loans decreased by 0.61 percentage points compared to November 2017 to 3.59%, and in EUR less - by 0.27 percentage points to 4.22%. The average interest rate on consumer loans in BGN in November 2018 compared to November 2017 increased by 0.53 percentage points to 8.67%.

The deadline for bids in the tender for the 35-year concession on Sofia Airport has been postponed again, to February 5. The deadline extension was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on December 26, 2018. The delay affects all the deadlines for the next stages of the process, but no other changes to the tender documentation has been made, the notice said. This is the third time that the deadline for bids has been postponed, with the Transport Ministry saying in October it was pushing the deadline back by one month to November 22 2018. A week before that deadline, the ministry once again pushed it back, this time to January 29. On both occasions, it did not give a reason for the delay. Called in July 2018, this is Bulgaria’s second attempt to pick a concessionaire for Sofia Airport.

Bulgaria's Allterco said that its shareholders have approved a proposal to sell the company's five telecommunications subsidiaries to Norway's LINK Mobility Group for a price of at least EUR 7.9 million. The deal includes all shares in Allterco's units in Bulgaria - Teravoice, Tera Communications and Allterpay, as well as its Romania-based subsidiary Teracomm RO and Macedonia-based Tera Communications DOOEL. The indicative price of the deal is the combined annual adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of the five companies multiplied by 5.5. The final price will be calculated on a cash free/debt free basis. In October, Allterco and LINK Mobility Group agreed to extend the deadline of their term sheet agreement. The deal was initially expected to be completed by the end of April, but the negotiations between the two companies were temporarily suspended as Victory Partners VII Norway launched a takeover offer for LINK Mobility Group.

Greece's GEK Terna Holding Real Estate Construction has sold its Bulgarian subsidiary I&B Real Estate, owner of Sofia-based office building Telus Tower, for EUR 78.6 million. Telus Tower, which is currently fully leased, offers a total area of 54,000 sq m. The building was completed in 2018 and is due to receive BREAM certification soon. The name of the buyer was not disclosed but documents filed with the Bulgarian commercial register indicate that the new sole owner of I&B Real Estate is Athens-headquartered NBG Pangaea Real Estate Investment Company. The registry agency has not yet entered the documents into the commercial register.

The international group Sоmfу, which is the world leader in automated systems for controlling the opening and closing of buildings and dwellings, is considering investing in its first plant in Bulgaria. The company wants to build a high-tech base for assembling electric motors and electric drives in the Varna region. During a visit to Bulgaria and a meeting with the regional administration in Varna, representatives of the company said that 1200 jobs could be opened, with 1000 of them in the production and 200 in the administration. It became clear from the information that the plant will not produce parts, but only electric motors will be assembled for rolling shutters for garage doors. According to the financial results for the first six months of 2018, the sales of the company amounted to EUR 586 million and the net profit amounted to EUR 83.2 million.

Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) has signed a BGN 97.8 million contract with local GBS Infrastructurno Stroitelstvo for construction of a 17 km motorway section. The 17 km road linking Dragoman road junction to Slivnitsa is part of the road between Sofia and Kalotina checkpoint, on the border with Serbia, which was recently given the name Europe motorway. In November, RIA signed a BGN 137.5 million contract for construction of a further 14.5 km of Europa motorway. The section will be built by a tie-up between the Bulgarian and Polish units of Austria's Strabag, and Bitumina GmbH – Bulgaria, a subsidiary of Austria's Bitumina.

The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) stopped the deal between the company of Ginka Varbakova Inerkom and CEZ. The regulator halted the new procedure (14 December 2018) on the request of Inerkom Bulgaria to acquire CEZ Bulgaria and other companies in the group. The decision was published on the CPC website on 27 December 2018. The reason for the refusal for a new case was the case in the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) against the previous Commission decision of 19 July 2018. The company was forbidden to acquire the Bulgarian business of CEZ. "The Commission considers that the assessment in the present case is conditioned by the final decision of the SAC on the lawfulness of the administrative act appealed against, by which the CPC banned the requested change in the control of the target enterprises. Last but not least, the existence of a pending litigation and in order to avoid the contradiction between judicial and administrative acts determines the Commission's inability to rule on the notified transaction for the acquisition of direct sole control by Inerkom Bulgaria EAD over the enterprises from the CEZ Group in Bulgaria," the decision reads.

Romania took over the EU's rotating presidency at a tumultuous time for the bloc and just days after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker voiced doubts about the country's ability to do the job. Brussels is already at loggerheads with the increasingly populist government in Bucharest on multiple fronts and Juncker's comments highlight some of the strains. Romania will be in charge for the next six months as the European Union faces a series of tricky tests – most notably Brexit, European parliamentary elections, and wrangling over the next budget. The Eastern European nation, which takes the presidency for the first time as it succeeds Austria, has been one of the EU's most consistently europhile member states since it joined in 2007. But its left-wing government has recently begun to adopt the sort of nationalist rhetoric expounded by nearby Hungary and Poland. All three are embroiled in disputes with the EU over controversial reforms that critics say undermine the rule of law. Liviu Dragnea, head of the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) and widely seen as Romania's most powerful man, has slammed the EU as "unfair", claiming Brussels is seeking to deny Bucharest the "right to hold its own opinions".

President Donald Trump has invited congressional leaders from both parties to the White House, according to two congressional sources, setting the stage for the first meeting between top Democratic and Republican leaders and the President since the partial government shutdown began 11 days ago. While details on the meeting are still being worked out, it likely will occur Wednesday afternoon and would include a briefing on border security from Department of Homeland Security officials, the sources said. The meeting would come as negotiations to re-open about a quarter of the federal government have been frozen for nearly two weeks, and just one day before Democrats take over as the majority party in the House. Compromise proposals, to the extent they existed in the first place, have not been traded or even discussed in recent days as both sides settled into their respective positions. A Hill source familiar with the meeting said few details are known about the homeland security briefing that congressional leaders were invited to attend, including who will lead it, what else is on the agenda or who else will attend. The short-term proposal would maintain the current border security funding level of $1.3 billion, which can be used for fencing and border barrier repairs.

Nissan Motor Co will produce 30,000 fewer vehicles in the coming months in China than what it had planned, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters, as global automakers grapple with falling demand in the world’s biggest car market. After Ford Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co, Nissan becomes the latest automaker to cut production in the country, where slowing economic growth and a crippling trade war with the United States have pummeled vehicle sales in the past few months. Nissan plans to cut production in China by a total of 30,000 units during the December-February period from its initial output plans, said the person who declined to be identified as the plans are not public. Automakers set initial plans on how many vehicles to produce at each of their plants. These plans can be modified due to demand, supply chain issues and other factors. It was not known how much Nissan had planned to produce in the three months. The automaker produced nearly 400,000 units in the country during the three-month period ended February this year. The period covers the first two months of the year, when sales usually slow in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holidays.