The government Wednesday adopted an Action Plan for the implementation in 2019-2020 of the National Development Programme: Bulgaria 2020, the Government Information Service said. The document aims to contribute to achieving the three strategic goals of the Programme: first, to raise living standards through competitive education and training, to create conditions for quality employment and social inclusion and to guarantee accessible, quality health care; second, to build infrastructure networks ensuring optimal conditions for economic development and a high-quality, healthy environment for the population; and third, to improve the competitiveness of the economy through a favourable business environment, to promote investments, apply innovative solutions, and increase resource effectiveness. Measures structured in eight priority areas will be implemented in 2019-2020 to achieve these goals. Preliminary impact assessment of the planned measures shows that considerable long-term effects will be achieved. As at 2020, GDP will grow by 6.4 per cent if the Action Plan is implemented with the allocated available funds, and by 9.7 per cent if the measures are fully implemented with the resources said to be necessary for their implementation.

Although inflation in the European Union declined in general in December, Bulgaria ranks fifth in consumer price growth in the bloc, according to Eurostat data. Leaders in inflation are Estonia, Romania, Hungary and Latvia, after which ranks Bulgaria. The indicator grew the least in Greece, Portugal and Denmark. In the EU as a whole, consumer prices have fallen by 0.3%, which is also the drop in the Eurozone. As inflation increases in the different countries, this is mainly due to a rise in prices in services (0.58 percentage points), in energy (0.53 percentage points) and in food, alcohol and tobacco (0.34 percentage points) .

Bulgartransgaz EAD has set up its subsidiary Gas Hub Balkan EAD in connection with the initiative for the construction of a gas distribution hub in Bulgaria. In a press release, the company said the creation of the subsidiary was pursuant to the decision by the Council of Ministers and the Parliament to amend Bulgaria’s 2020 energy strategy. In the future Bulgartransgaz will keep at least 51% in the subsidiary, which will develop a liquid gas exchange in Bulgaria, with a segment for bilateral trade. Initially, Gas Hub Balkan will give the participants in the natural gas market in Bulgaria and the region the opportunity to use a trading platform in line with Art. 10 of Regulation (EU) No 312/2014 establishing a network code on gas balancing of transmission networks. The proposed gas hub will improve energy security, diversify gas supply sources and routes and ensure competitive prices for consumers.

Bulgaria's Sopharma Trading has acquired a minority shares portfolio in Serbian drug wholesaler Lekovit, thus becoming the sole owner of Lekovit as part of regional expansion. The price of the deal was not announced. “The first step is to become a leader in Serbia by expanding significantly operations and logistics potential. This development will be used as a fundament for regional expansion, since Sopharma Trading sees the whole region of Eastern Europe, especially the Balkans, as a vast opportunity for growth," Dimitar Dimitrov, CEO of Sopharma Trading Group, said in a statement. Sopharma Trading entered the Serbian market in 2015 by opening a subsidiary in Belgrade. In August 2017, Sopharma Trading completed the acquisition of a 70% interest in Lekovit for an undisclosed sum. Over the past year Sopharma Trading focused on the successful integration of the Serbian company as well as on achieving significant growth of operations by both expanding the pharmacy market and developing new business lines, i.e. the hospital market, the statement reads. Sopharma Trading, a unit of Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma, operates in the wholesale, retail, medical equipment and other segments and is planning to implement its diversified business model in Serbia and the whole region.

The Kazanlak-based  M + S Hydraulic Company started the construction of a new production hull on an area of almost 8 decares. The deadline for implementation of the project is 14 months and the investment in the new production base is BGN 9.5 million. The management of the company plans to buy new machines by the end of the year in which it will invest another BGN 9 million. The project for the new base is part of the 5-year plan for the restructuring of the company's activity, optimization and robotizing production processes. The expected effect is an increase in production capacity by 15-20%. The company will invest BGN 1 million in the construction and equipment of laboratories. The main shareholder of the company is Stara Planina Hold with nearly 31% of the capital, M + S 97 with 24% and Industrial Capital Holding with 22.4%. The market capitalization of the company is BGN 85 million and in the last 12 months it has dropped by 12.5% due to the general decline of the capital market. In addition to its production in Kazanlak, M + S Hydraulic has workshops in Elhovo, Yagoda and Vetren. The company also owns a company in Serbia with a similar production activity, as well as a trading company in Germany, which in the past 2018 achieved sales growth of 120%.

A shrimp farm will be set up in Svishtov's village Slivovo in September. The investor is Biliana OOD and the project is worth BGN 1.416 million, half of which are granted under the Maritime and Fisheries Program. The rest of the amount is provided by the company’s own funds. A white Pacific shrimp will be grown on the farm with an area of 28,406 square meters. The design is entrusted to graduate technologists from the Netherlands with experience in the construction and operation of shrimp farms. Four new jobs will be revealed on the site, it became clear from the investment intention. According to the latest financial report published in the Commercial Register of Biliana in 2017, the company has BGN 15,889 million in revenue and BGN 1,885 million profit.

The world's largest and first of its kind cultural-historical and entertainment-educational park will open in Bulgaria this spring. Conceived as a large complex, situated in its completed form on a 500-acre area 33 km from Varna, The Historical Park offers Bulgarian and foreign visitors an interactive trip up to 10 000 years back in time during the five epochs of human civilization. On the spot will be presented the development of civilization, which took place in our lands from the Chalcolithic and Neolithic times, through the glorious history of the Thracians and Rome, until the heyday of the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The whole site is planned to be completed in full functionality in 2022, and the construction of the first phase - Chalcolith, Neolithic, Thracian and Lake Rest will be completed in the spring of 2019 when the Park will officially be opened for visitors

Russian lawmakers voted against sending a delegation to the Council of Europe (CoE) and to not resume funding of the body. Deputies in the Russian parliament, the Duma, accused the council of "grossly" violating the rights of Russia by stripping their delegation of voting rights over the Crimea crisis. "As a result of the lengthy anti-Russian campaign, the activities of Russia in the Council of Europe were actually suspended along the parliamentary line, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe itself, violating the basis of parliamentarism, found itself in a deep systemic crisis," the lawmakers said in a statement published on the Duma website. The Strasbourg-based council is a non-EU organization aiming to uphold human rights across the continent. It incorporates 47 European states. The body is in charge of electing judges for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). 

The partial government shutdown is inflicting far greater damage on the United States economy than previously estimated, the White House acknowledged, as President Trump’s economists doubled projections of how much economic growth is being lost each week the standoff with Democrats continues. The revised estimates from the Council of Economic Advisers show that the shutdown, now in its fourth week, is beginning to have real economic consequences. The analysis, and other projections from outside the White House, suggests that the shutdown has already weighed significantly on growth and could ultimately push the United States economy into a contraction. While Vice President Mike Pence previously played down the shutdown’s effects amid a “roaring” economy, White House officials are now cautioning Mr. Trump about the toll it could take on a sustained economic expansion. Mr. Trump, who has hitched his political success to the economy, also faces other economic headwinds, including slowing global growth, a trade war with China and the waning effects of a $1.5 trillion tax cut.

Hitachi said it would freeze construction of its stalled nuclear power station in Wales due to problems financing the project, a blow to Britain’s nuclear strategy and a costly decision for the Japanese firm. The company said in a statement the decision was made “from the viewpoint of Hitachi’s economic rationality as a private enterprise”. Shelving the project at the Wylfa Newydd plant on Anglesey, a small island off the Welsh coast, will cost the Japanese firm 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion), it said. Hitachi launched the planned construction after acquiring Britain-based Horizon Nuclear Power in 2012. The British government had reportedly agreed to finance two thirds of the three trillion yen construction cost, with Hitachi as well as Japanese and British investors scheduled to cover the balance. But Hitachi’s fund-raising efforts have been deadlocked at home while its request for additional investment from the British government has been shelved with London consumed by Brexit.