Bulgaria receives EUR 57 million by the EU structural and investment funds to develop measures to improve air quality, this country’s Minister of Environment and Water Neno Dimov said in response to a question of a Bulgarian MP. The money is not allotted to all Bulgarian municipalities. Only several municipalities which meet certain criteria set by the European Commission receive this financing. Minister Dimov advised the municipal authorities to focus on the fulfillment of the measures that are part of the air quality programmes. The state authorities will continue to act towards attracting EU funds to finance the relevant projects.

‘We expect the Bulgarian exports to exceed BGN 57 billion in 2019,’ said Deputy Minister of Economy Alexander Manolev. He highlighted the economic performance Bulgaria achieves - GDP growth above the EU average, an increase in exports and a strong interest in new investments. "These trends in the Bulgarian economy give rise to optimism, but we must make every effort to ensure stability and adapt to the challenges of the new industrial revolution that we are facing," the economic deputy minister said. Emphasis in his speech was also on some of the most developing sectors of the Bulgarian economy, such as ICT, automotive and machine building, food industry, etc.

The Bulgarian trust company Doverie United Holding has been authorized by Moldovan authorities to acquire more than half of second largest bank in the country - Moldindconbank. The company will have a 64% stake in the financial institution. After the deal, the bank will become the third largest financial institution in Moldova, sold to a foreign investor. This is part of the enforced strategy to "clear" the banking system in the country, demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other creditors. These actions came after a USD 1 billion scandal that shook the Moldovan economy. The deal with Doverie United Holding will help the authorities in Chisinau to meet the conditions in the IMF program, which includes ensuring greater transparency regarding the ownership of banks. According to Reuters, the Central Bank of Moldova has indicated the potential investor's intention as an opportunity for long-term development of Moldindconbank, including increasing the competitiveness and quality of its services to customers. This is not the first interest of Doverie United Holding in the Moldovan market. In 2017 the company took steps to acquire more than 50% of the capital of another bank in the country - B.C. Victoriabank. Later, the company gave up the deal. Last October an agreement was also concluded as part of the largest financial institution in the country. A consortium led by the EBRD bought 41% of Agroindbank's shares.

The government approved a draft project support agreement between the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Under the agreement, the EWRC will receive consultancy assistance from the EBRD to improve analytical and technical capacity as well as to regulate prices and efficiency of the electricity market. Under the agreement, methodologies and analyzes will be developed for market monitoring, the costs and benefits of investment projects, the capital and operating costs of networked enterprises for regulatory purposes, methodology for linking regulated revenues to networked enterprises with performance and service quality indicators. The capacity of the EWRC is planned to be further developed by conducting inspections, seizure of electronic evidence, taking oral explanations, imposing penalties, settling disputes and ways of appeal by companies as well as other procedural and legal issues. The project envisages reviewing and analyzing the legislation and drafting proposals for regulatory changes in order to improve the regulatory framework of the electricity market and respectively the regulatory activity of the EWRC.

US-headquartered automotive lightning solutions provider Varroc Lighting Systems officially opened an BGN 8 million manufacturing plant in Bulgaria. The economy ministry provided no further details about the investment project in its statement. It, however, quoted Bulgarian economy minister Emil Karanikolov as saying at the opening ceremony that nearly BGN 200 million were invested in Bulgaria's automotive sector in 2018, creating 3200 jobs. Varroc Lighting Systems, a member of India-based Varroc Group family of automotive-components businesses, said in a separate statement that the new plant is the first of three production facilities it plans to build near Dimitrovgrad, in southern Bulgaria. Its output will be supplied to the company's European clients. In July, when Varroc Lighting Systems acquired Turkish company Sa-Ba Automotive, the US company said that through the deal it gains a 20,000 sq m plant under construction in Dimitrovgrad and a 10,000 sq m manufacturing and technology centre near Istanbul. It did not disclose the value of the deal. Elsewhere in Southeast Europe, Varroc Lighting Systems is present in Romania. In September, it signed a joint venture agreement with Romanian lighting and electronics company Elba to start producing electronics locally. Varroc Lighting Systems is a global supplier of automobile and two-wheeler lighting solutions headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan. The company has more than 7200 employees worldwide.

The Electricity System Operator has attracted European co-financing of up to BGN 58 million for the construction of the 400 kV Maritza East-Nea Santa interconnection. The EC provides 50% of the necessary funds for the construction of the power line, totaling BGN 116 million. The other half ESO will cover with its own funds. In 2015 ESO and the Greek independent transmission operator signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of the power line. The power line will strengthen the 400 kV grid in the region, significantly increasing the possibility of electricity exchange between the two countries and will support the realization of the generated electricity from renewable sources in the territory of Northeastern Greece and South Bulgaria. The project increases the net trading capacity at the two borders Bulgaria - Greece and Bulgaria - Turkey, accelerates market integration, competition and flexibility of the system. The power line is one of the five projects implemented by the Electricity System Operator with status of projects of common European interest under Regulation 347/2013 for the construction of trans-European infrastructure. The total length of the new 400 kV power lines is approximately 480 km with an investment value of BGN 500 million.

Bulgarian diversified group Bulgartabac Holding said its subsidiary Blagoevgrad-BT, the operator of a cigarette factory in Blagoevgrad, in the southwest of the country, has discontinued production and suspended other activities. Part of the operations of Blagoevgrad-BT will be suspended from January 24 until March 1. Last week, local media reported Bulgartabac Holding has given the 200 factory workers two days to submit voluntary leave requests. In December, Bulgartabac Holding said that its consolidated net profit, excluding minority interest, fell sharply to BGN 8.1 million in the January-September period of 2018 from BGN 43.1 million in the same period of 2017. British American Tobacco (BAT) purchased Bulgartabac's leading cigarette brands in a deal worth more than EUR 100 million in 2017. In July, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange decided to move Bulgartabac Holding to its BaSE alternative market over the company's failure to disclose regulated information. Bulgartabac shut down in 2016 its cigarette factory Sofia-BT due to a sharp decrease in orders.

While France’s attachment to welfare spending is no secret, the United States is not far behind when taking into account private money as well, data from the OECD showed on Wednesday. At 31 percent of national income, France spent the most taxpayer money last year on things like pensions, healthcare and unemployment benefits, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. France’s welfare spending was well above the OECD average of 20 percent, and contrasted starkly with Mexico, at the other end of the spectrum with only 7.5 percent. In countries like the United States, the Netherlands and Switzerland, the private sector plays a big role in providing social benefits and services like pensions or health insurance. When taking public and private funding together, France’s remains the biggest spender. However, the United States is in second place with total social spending at 30 percent of national income, compared with 19 percent when looking only at public spending. Though France’s welfare largesse helps keep inequality below the OECD average, its “yellow vest” protests have exposed a deep-rooted belief the system nonetheless is not working for large swathes of population.

The Federal Reserve is examining how Deutsche Bank AG handled billions of dollars in suspicious transactions from Denmark’s leading lender, according to people familiar with the matter, further intensifying what could be one of the biggest money-laundering scandals ever. The Fed’s probe is in an early stage as it scrutinizes whether Deutsche Bank’s U.S. operations adequately monitored funds from an Estonian branch of Danske Bank A/S, according to two people briefed on the situation, who asked not to be named because the inquiry isn’t public. Danske, which used correspondent banks such as Deutsche Bank to move money abroad, has admitted that much of about $230 billion that flowed through the tiny Estonian outpost may have been dirty. “There are no probes,” Deutsche Bank said in an emailed statement, but the bank “received several requests for information from regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world. It is not surprising at all that the investigating authorities and banks themselves have an interest in the Danske case and the lessons to be learned from it. 

China vowed to push ahead with opening its bond market to foreign investors, with a senior central bank official saying it was crucial for the development of the nation’s financial markets. "We have some thoughts about how to further open up the bond market," People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng said. "We’re researching and plan to issue new index products such as bond ETFs to facilitate foreign investors, and will improve connectivity between central custodian institutions." Foreign investors’ holdings in China’s total bond market increased to 2.3 percent by the end of 2018, Pan said. It was 1.6 percent at the end of 2017. The share held by foreign investors in the government bond market rose to 8.1 percent by the end of last year, Pan said, from about 6 percent at the end of April 2018. China has accelerated the opening of its financial market to foreign investors since late 2017 by lifting some curbs on the ownership of financial institutions. In a recent move, it doubled the limit of the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, a main foreign investment channel into China, to $300 billion.