Consumption will continue to be a major driver of the Bulgarian economy in 2019, but household purchases will slow down. This will also affect imports, which will also grow slowly but, on the other hand, exports of Bulgarian goods to Turkey will be revived mainly due to the re-export of petroleum products. However, companies in the country will invest heavily because of the uncertain external environment at the expense of rising public investment. This is forecasted by the BNB in its latest quarterly "Economic Review". The bank also lowered its expectations for economic growth this year to 3.6%, compared with 4% in the previous forecast, which was published half a year ago. The BNB also revised data for 2018 by 0.7 percentage points to 3.2% GDP growth. The main reason is the drop in exports during the first nine months of last year, which according to the BNB is caused by short-term factors and by revisions in NSI data. Unlike the previous two years, however, government spending will now dominate, while the pace of household purchases is expected to slow down.

Housing and consumer loans on the Bulgarian market recorded the strongest start of the year since 2009. They reported the most serious growth in January 2019 compared to the last decade, according to the data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). For the first month of the year housing loans rose by 11.1%. By comparison, in January 2018 their growth was within 8.2 per cent. At the end of the first month of the year, new home loans amounted to a total of BGN 10.565 billion at a level of BGN 9.506 billion a year earlier. The growth of this category of loans did not exceed 10% , and last was above this limit in January 2009. At that time, it reached 35.1% on an annual basis, according to the BNB calculations. Only a year later the growth rate was only 8.6 percent, and between January 2014 and January 2016, housing credit shrank. It goes back to positive territory in 2017 when it rises by 1.8 per cent. Earlier this year, even stronger growth was reported for consumer credit. BNB data show that at the end of January 2019 the increase in this category was 17.6% on an annual basis to a total of BGN 9.142 billion. At the end of December 2018 consumer loans increased by 17.7% at a level of 5.8% a year earlier.

Bulgarian software developer Gym Realm Technology said that local climbing walls manufacturer Walltopia will subscribe for 8,000 shares of Gym Realm Technology, which will be issued in a forthcoming capital increase. Gym Realm Technology will raise its capital to BGN 73,770 from BGN 65,770. The 8,000 shares will be equal to a 10.8% stake in Gym Realm Technology following the capital increase. Walltopia will pay a total of EUR 208,000 for the shares. Gym Realm Technology shareholders approved the proposal at an extraordinary meeting held on February 18. According to data from Gym Realm Technology's website, Walltopia became a client of the company in 2014 and subsequently invested in Gym Realm Technology in 2015. Gym Realm Technology develops software for the sport and wellness industry. The company was funded by the Eleven accelerator venture fund in 2013. Sofia-headquartered Walltopia has offices in the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany, Austria and Russia. The company has completed over 1,800 projects worldwide, with 320,000 sq. m. of climbing surface.

The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has self-investigated and started proceedings against the Russian taxi company Taxi Maxim. The inspection is in compliance with the Law on Protection of Competition and the Regulatory Authority has not published detailed information. It seems that Taxi Maxim will go through the procedure that Uber had to go through in Bulgaria. Both companies actually provide the same service. The Russian company started its activity a few years ago in Sofia, and for several months it has also been operating in Plovdiv and Varna. The company also offers licensing of activities in individual cities against certain conditions. The activation of the CPC took place only a day after it became clear that Uber had lost the case for lifting the CPC ban at first instance before the SAC. The complaint was directed at the CPC's decision of 2015, whereby the regulator stopped the company's activities in Bulgaria.

A Sofia-based company has introduced an investment plan for Bansko municipality to build an airport for small aircraft. The company deals with import of sports, mountain and ski equipment. Its representatives have already looked around and found suitable land, which is municipal property, with an area of about 250 decares in the area between Bansko and Banya. "This is only an intent and everything is in its infancy but the proposal seems attractive because such a small airplane airport will make it easier and shorter the time to travel to Bansko.The journey with such aircraft is becoming more widespread and will be used in the future more and more ", commented Mayor Georgi Ikonomov. He instructed the officials of the administration to verify that the terrain is acceptable for such purposes. If there are no problems, it will probably be granted on concession for 30 years. An official proposal will be submitted to the City Council by the company that wants to invest and the local officials would discuss it.

Bulgarian lender UniCredit Bulbank, part of Italian financial group UniCredit, said that it has proposed to its shareholders to distribute its profit after taxes in 2018, in the amount of BGN 430 million, as dividend for last year. Under the proposal, shareholders will receive BGN 1.505 per each share they hold. The lender's shareholders will vote on the proposal on April 9. UniCredit Bulbank was Bulgaria's largest lender by assets at the end of January.

Battery manufacturer Monbat reported significantly lower financial results for last year. This shows the consolidated report of the group that was posted on the stock exchange’s website. In 2018 net sales revenue decreased by 9.4% to BGN 293.9 million and net profit decreased by 91% to BGN 2.8 million. The main products of the company are accumulators and lead-acid batteries with different applications. The company sells its products in more than 60 countries, with important markets being France, Spain, Germany, Romania and Italy. Over the past two years, Monbat has made several important investments abroad, acquiring the German Gaia and EAS companies and thus entering the lithium-ion battery sector. Another key transaction was the purchase of the Piombifera plant, which is one of the three largest recycling facilities in Italy. The company, however, has dropped out of its third intention for acquisition - Assad in Tunisia, as the risks were too high. At the end of last month it became clear that Monbat will build a plant in Vratsa for new technology - bipolar lead batteries, which can be used in RES projects, electric cars, industrial UPS systems, etc. According to the municipality, the investment will be BGN 42 million.

Scotland’s parliament and the Welsh national assembly voted to oppose the Brexit deal agreed by the UK government, the first time they have done so simultaneously in a sign of the United Kingdom’s internal fracture over Brexit. Britain’s 52-48 percent 2016 vote to leave the EU has stretched relations between the four-nation United Kingdom because England and Wales voted to leave but a majority in Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay. Since then, both the Scottish and the Welsh devolved governments say their voice has been ignored in British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to take Britain out of the EU, something London denies. They are worried about its economic impact and the vote on Tuesday, despite having no binding effect, is a way of formalizing their political opposition. May herself is struggling to come up with changes to a Brexit deal which could unite a fragmented national parliament at Westminster before the March 29 EU exit deadline.

The U.S. trade deficit jumped nearly 19 percent in December, pushing the trade imbalance for all of 2018 to widen to a decade-long high of $621 billion. The gap with China on goods widened to an all-time record of $419.2 billion. The Commerce Department figures undermined a key commitment by President Donald Trump, who promised to cut the trade imbalance on the belief that it would bring back overseas factory jobs and bolster the broader U.S. economy. But America's dependence on imports appears to have increased after the tariffs that Trump imposed last year on foreign steel, aluminum and Chinese products. An acceleration in economic growth last year from Trump's debt-funded tax cuts helped to boost the appetite for foreign goods. The gap between what the United States sells and what it buys from other countries rose to $59.8 billion in December from $50.3 billion in November, the Commerce Department said. Adjusted for inflation, December was the highest imbalance on trade goods in U.S. history.

China's southern Hainan island will end sales of fossil fuel-only cars in 2030, officials said, becoming the first province to announce a target end date for a transition away from gas guzzlers. Beijing announced plans in 2017 to phase out petrol vehicles across the nation, but it did not set a date, as the country aims to cut pollution and reduce its dependence on imported oil. Starting in 2030, sales of fossil fuel cars will be prohibited in Hainan, the provincial government said, with officials saying they aim to hit President Xi Jinping's goal for the island to become a "civilised ecology test zone." Known as China's Hawaii thanks to its resorts and tropical beaches, Hainan is set to become the country's largest free trade zone. It also hopes to serve as a test area for some of Beijing's ambitious policies like fostering hi-tech industries and attracting international tourist dollars. China remains at the forefront of the electric car revolution, with hundreds of homegrown electric automakers sprouting and ample government subsidies to push consumers into new energy vehicles.