Bulgaria ranks fourth in retail sales growth in November on an annual basis among the member states of the European Union. Retail sales in Bulgaria rose for the ninth consecutive month, with one of the strongest increases in the past year. This is clear from official Eurostat data. In Bulgaria retail sales rose 0.8 percent month on month in November, but this was a slowdown compared to October when was recorded a 1-percent growth. On an annual basis however, the increase in the country reaches 6.6%, which ranks fourth in the EU after Slovenia, Romania and Lithuania. Retail sales in the euro area and the EU increased in November at a good pace for the second consecutive month due to lower oil prices and rising wages, suggesting that domestic consumption continues to be a generator for even weaker economic growth in Europe in the last quarter of the past year.

Kristalina Georgieva will head the World Bank on February 1, 2019, when the current president of the financial institution, Jim Yong Kim, will leave. 59-year-old Kim, former head of Dartmouth College, has three more years of his mandate but has decided to leave the bank to work on infrastructure projects. After leaving, Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva will temporarily take over the World Bank. Traditionally, the President of the World Bank is always an American and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is entrusted to a European. Kristalina Georgieva, 65, who was commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response since February 2015, left office in early 2017 and announced she was personally invited by the President of the World Bank to take over the post of CEO.

Swedish entertainment company Modern Times Group (MTG) has decided to terminate its agreement to sell its Bulgarian unit Nova Broadcasting Group to Czech-based investment group PPF. "The termination of the agreement with PPF Group follows the decision by the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition to disallow the proposed sale to PPF Group, as well as the expiration of an extended long-stop date under the sale and purchase agreement," MTG said in a statement. MTG has entered into discussions with other interested parties regarding the sale of its stake in Nova Broadcasting Group. MTG also said it expects to complete its split into two companies - MTG and NENT Group - in March 2019, and Nova will remain part of MTG until its sale is completed. Nova Broadcasting Group is 95%-owned by MTG, while Luxembourg-registered Eastern European Media Holdings holds the remaining 5%. MTG said that the transaction values 100% of Nova at EUR 185 million. In Bulgaria, Nova Broadcasting Group's main rival is BTV Media Group, owned by Bermuda-registered Central European Media Enterprises. Last year, PPF Group completed the acquisition of Norwegian mobile operator Telenor's telecommunications assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia. The total purchase price of the assets was EUR 2.8 billion on an enterprise value basis.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has extended a EUR 25 million loan to Bulgarian copper products manufacturer Sofia Med, which the company will mainly use to develop new products. Several commercial banks are extending parallel financing as part of an EUR 85 million long-term joint financing package. Sofia Med is planning to use the funds to set up a new research and development unit aimed at creating new, higher value-added products. Sofia Med also intends to partner with a leading company in the field of special alloys to adopt their know-how. Sofia Med, which exports 95% of its output, manufactures rolled and extruded copper and copper alloy products. To date, the EBRD has invested nearly EUR 3.9 billion into various sectors of Bulgaria’s economy in about 250 projects.

The US IT company AtScale, focused on the management of large data bases (Big Data), has chosen to open its first office in Europe in Sofia. The office in Bulgaria is already operational and the company is recruiting employees with knowledge in the Java programming language. AtScale was Founded in 2013 and a wide variety of its customers on its business intelligence platform includes giants like JPMorgan Chase, Toyota, Wells Fargo, GlaxoSmithKline.

Happy Bar and Grill will replace American fast food stalwart TGI Fridays on Coventry Street in London’s West End. The Bulgarian restaurant chain, with 22 sites across the country and 2 in Barcelona, Spain, will bring its all-day menu to London later in 2019. Happy was founded in Varna on Christmas Eve 1994, and now serves a menu of pizza, pasta, burgers, salads, and other casual-dining stalwarts, mixed in with traditional Bulgarian dishes. That means chicken tenders and burgers - also anchors of the restaurant Happy will replace - sit alongside tutamnik cheese bread and kyufteta, traditional meat balls. There is also a black burger with a charcoal bun, because it is 2019 and some restaurant trends are irrepressibly transnational. The large Piccadilly Circus site is a big bet for the company in its first London opening, but the guaranteed tourist footfall - and London and its investors’ mutual appetite for large-scale international imports - should see it right.

Bulgaria's Hotel Management Company is seeking approval from the Commission for Protection of Competition for its planned acquisition of local iHotel Investment. The deal is likely to affect competition on the hotel and tourism services sector on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, Hotel Management Company said in a notice, published on the regulator's website. Interested parties can submit their position regarding the deal by January 14.

Financial services companies have moved assets worth $1 trillion from the U.K. to the rest of Europe since the Brexit referendum, a new study from audit firm EY estimates. In a report published Monday, the consultancy said its "Brexit Tracker" estimated financial services firms had moved almost £800 billion ($1.02 trillion) out of Britain since the 2016 vote. However, EY acknowledged that this was a "conservative" amount in relation to the size of the U.K.'s financial sector. "This number is still modest given total assets of the U.K. banking sector alone is estimated to be almost £8 trillion, but may become larger as we move towards Brexit," the research said. The study tracked announcements from 222 companies in the sector — 20 of which had publicly declared intentions to move operations, staff members and other assets. Omar Ali, U.K. financial services leader at EY, said the number could grow as the risk of a no-deal Brexit heightened.

Nongovernmental organizations working in Brazil will have their public funding rigidly controlled, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday, as part of increased oversight of their activities by his new right-wing administration. The plans have raised concerns that NGO activities might be restricted by a nationalist government that has criticized foreign interference in the Amazon region. The responsibility for monitoring NGOs has been put in the hands of Government Secretary Carlos dos Santos Cruz, a retired Army general who has said the initiative will help determine whether the organizations are fulfilling their role of carrying out work that complements government actions. An executive order issued last week gave the new administration potentially far-reaching and restrictive powers over NGOs. “The government’s intention is to optimise the use of public funds and bring more benefits” to people assisted by the NGOs, Cruz said in an interview published on Monday on the G1 news portal. He denied the intention was to restrict their activity.

India currently expects to bring 21 new nuclear power reactors with a combined generating capacity of 15,700 MWe into operation by 2031, the country's minister of state for the Department of Atomic Energy and the Prime Minister's Office told parliament yesterday. Jitendra Singh said: "At present, there are nine nuclear power reactors at various stages of construction." These include two units in each of the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana, plus three in Tamil Nadu. All these units are scheduled to be completed by 2024-2025. "In addition, 12 more nuclear power reactors have been accorded administrative approval and financial sanction by the government in June 2017," he told parliament. "Thus, 21 nuclear power reactors, with an installed capacity of 15,700 MWe are under implementation, envisaged for progressive completion by the year 2031." Singh also noted that five sites have been granted "in principle" approval to establish a further 28 reactors. These sites are Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh, Chhaya Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Haripur in West Bengal and Bhimpur in Madhya Pradesh.