In January 2019 industrial production in the euro area and throughout the European Union showed stronger than expected growth, Eurostat data show, while production in Bulgaria reported an even stronger rebound, wiping out the strong decline at the end of the previous year . Production in the eurozone rose in January by 1.4% compared to December when it fell by 0.9% and the forecast for a moderate rebound by 1.0%. Eurostat has provided good data on industrial production across the EU, as well as solid growth in Bulgaria. EU production rose in January by 1.0% compared to December 2018, when it dropped by 0.4%, with industrial production shrunk by 0.4% on an annual basis after a decline of 2.8% during the previous month. According to Eurostat, industrial production in Bulgaria rose by 3.2% in January, altogether wiping out the 2.0% drop at the end of the previous year, with only four other EU member states marking a stronger production growth.

Increase in investments in Bulgaria is reported by the Invest Bulgaria Agency last year. This was said by the Minister of Economy, Emil Karanikolov, during a round table on the topic organized by the employers' organizations. For 2018 the investments amount to about BGN 850 mln, while in 2017 they amount to BGN 311 mln. "Investors are now focusing on production and high added value sectors," said Karanikolov. But in his words, this is happening at the expense of the logistics that previously dominated. Since the beginning of the year, BGN 130 mln have been invested, which would open 1,230 jobs. Approved projects by the Economy Ministry for the first three months of 2019 are 3 and 4 are being processed. More investors are heading to North Bulgaria, the Ministry of Economy reported.

Bulgarian Parliament passed on March 14 a bill of amendments to the country’s Concessions Act, meant to ease concerns raised by prospective investors in the tender for the Sofia Airport. The Cabinet called the tender to pick a concessionaire for the country’s largest air hub last year but the initial deadline for bids, which was October 2018, has been postponed four times already. The current deadline is April 3. The bill targets concessions that require large-scale investment in public infrastructure and “significant payments” to the state Budget, as is the case with the Sofia Airport, and clarifies matters on joint liability, dispute settlement and the grounds for voiding a concession contract. Although the Sofia Airport concession tender was not mentioned specifically in the bill or the Cabinet’s motives for tabling the amendments, the changes were expected to result in a wider field of bidders in the tender. So far, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which operates the Manchester, East Midlands and London Stansted airports, has said it planned to make a bid in the tender.

Austrian Raiffeisenbank plans to expand its operations on the Bulgarian market. This became clear from the bank's annual report and a statement by Chief Executive Officer Johan Strobl. In addition, the credit institution looks at the opportunities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia. But Strobl states that "this does not mean we do not want to grow in other countries in the region." The profit of Raiffeisenbank for 2018 is BGN 131 million. Raiffeisenbank's assets amount to BGN 7.8 billion. Corporate lending has reached a market share of 7.3%. The amount of the loan portfolio increased by 16% to BGN 2.2 billion. In 2018, credit to citizens marks an increase of 15% - the best levels since 2008. The bank serves over 600,000 customers, has 133 offices and 2,722 employees.

The Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) plans to increase the capital of its subsidiary Maritsa East 2 TPP by about BGN 600 million, its executive director announced. The aim is to "give extra capital to the headquarters", which has accrued obligations to BEH for BGN 1 billion, and if it is not backed up, it could become insolvent by next year. To make this happen, the European Commission is required to decide whether this is state aid or not. Obligations are likely to be reshaped in order to start a new limitation period. The head of the energy holding announced that the financial result of the state coal-fired power plant is positive - profit of BGN 10 million has been reported, but this is due to the higher prices of the energy exchange during this period. At the end of the year, the state supported the plant with BGN 324 million by buying carbon allowances in order to keep it running.

Jumbo intends to open a new store in the country by the end of its fiscal year. Currently, the toy retailer has nine stores in the country - four in Sofia, and one each in the cities of Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse and Stara Zagora. Earlier this year Jumbo cut the registered capital of its Bulgarian unit - Jumbo EC.B, by BGN 37.3 million to BGN 161.6 million. Jumbo's Bulgarian unit employed 831 people at the end of 2018, down from 839 people at the end of June 2018. Jumbo entered the Bulgarian market in 2005. Outside Greece, Jumbo has stores in Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus. At the end of 2018, the company had a total of 77 stores in the four countries.

Bulgarian real estate investment trust Bulland Investments is planning to issue an unsecured ten-year EUR 10 million bond. Bulland Investments REIT intends to use the bond proceeds to finance the acquisition of investment real estate properties. The bonds will carry an annual coupon of between 3.75% and 6.0%. Bulland Investments REIT intends to list the bonds on a regulated market within six months of the placement. The company's shareholders will vote on the proposal at a meeting scheduled for April 16.

Bulgaria's Central Cooperative Bank (CCB) said that its consolidated net profit rose to BGN 54.1 million in 2018 from BGN 36.8 million the year before. The rise was a result of profit from discontinued operations, which amounted to BGN 21 million last year versus none in 2017. The lender's net interest income declined to BGN 123.1 million in 2018 from BGN 128.0 million in 2017. Net fee and commission income edged down to BGN 46.6 million in 2018 compared to BGN 48.2 million a year earlier. The bank's operating expenses amounted to BGN 136.1 million last year, slightly down from BGN 136.6 million in 2017. CCB's assets stood at BGN 5.87 billion at the end of 2018, up from BGN 5.66 billion a year earlier. CCB was Bulgaria's eight largest lender by assets at the end of January.

The improvements to the Visa Information System (VIS), agreed by members of the European Parliament, would ensure a better EU response to security and migratory challenges, the European Parliament said. The VIS is an EU database used by authorities to check non-EU nationals who need a visa to travel to the Schengen visa zone. The reform would enable the system to better respond to evolving security and migratory challenges and improve the EU’s external border management. The Visa Information System has helped visa, border, asylum and migration authorities to check non-EU nationals who need a visa to travel to the Schengen area since 2011. Member states process around 18 million applications for short-stay Schengen visas annually. In August 2018, the system had over 60 million visa applications and 40 million sets of fingerprints.

Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to a four-week high and exceeded estimates, a sign the labor market may be softening somewhat even as it remains strong overall. Jobless claims rose to 229,000 in the week ended March 9, above economist forecasts for 225,000, Labor Department figures showed Thursday. The four-week average, a less-volatile measure, declined to a six-week low of 223,750. The rise in claims, although modest, suggests forces such as the government shutdown and slower global growth could be reverberating through the economy. Some analysts have expressed concern that recent rises in claims indicate the job market may be cooling somewhat following several years of strong gains. At the same time, the Federal Reserve's patient stance on interest rates is likely to support further labor-market gains in coming months. Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, rose by 18,000 to 1.776 million in the week ended March 2. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.2 percent.

A group of investors led by SoftBank Group Corp and Toyota Motor Corp is in talks to invest $1 billion or more into Uber Technologies Inc’s self-driving vehicle unit, which would value the unit at $5 billion to $10 billion, said two people familiar with the talks. The investment would provide a cash injection for Uber’s self-driving program that is costing the money-losing startup hundreds of millions of dollars without generating revenue. It could also help underscore Uber’s value as the ride-hailing firm prepares for a stock market debut in which its value could top $100 billion. Uber and SoftBank declined to comment. A Toyota spokesman said the automaker “constantly reviews and considers various options for investment” but does not have anything to announce. News of investment talks was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which said a deal could be reached next month. Japan’s largest automaker Toyota injected $500 million into Uber last year to work on self-driving cars, where both companies are seen as lagging rivals like Alphabet Inc’s self-driving unit Waymo.