Bulgaria’s jobless rate fell by 0.2 percentage points month-on-month to 6.2% in February, the government's Employment Agency said. Compared to February 2018, Bulgaria’s jobless rate was 0.8 pp lower. A total of 205,013 people were unemployed in February, of which 23,446 newly-registered with labour offices during the month. The number of people who found a job in the second month of the year totalled 19,478. There were 14,875 registered job vacancies in February. The highest share of vacancies was registered in the manufacturing sector, 25.8% of the total.

Bulgaria's defence expenditure for 2018 is estimated at 1.43 per cent of GDP, show data on NATO countries' defence expenditure in the 2011-2018 period released by the Alliance on Thursday. The data also show that since 2015, Bulgaria has constantly been increasing its defence expenditure in leva. Bulgaria has exceeded by 0.4 per cent NATO's objective of 20 per cent of defence expenditure to be equipment expenditure. According to the data, only seven NATO countries have already achieved the goal of at least 2 per cent of their GDP to be spent on defence annually. Fourteen Allies have defence expenditure as a share of GDP lower than that of Bulgaria.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to more than double its investments in Bulgaria in 2019 - to EUR 250 million, keeping its focus on infrastructure and support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In 2018, the EIB provided EUR 103 million of financing for Bulgaria, including a EUR 22 million loan to the Sofia municipality for expansion of the city's underground railway network and EUR 67 million for a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant running on refuse-derived fuel. The EIB will continue to actively support SMEs and midcaps in Bulgaria, working closely with the local units of lenders like Raiffeisenbank and Piraeus Bank. Prior to the news conference, the EIB signed an EUR 18 million loan agreement with Software Group, supported by the Juncker Plan – the EIB’s first venture debt operation in Bulgaria. Software Group is a global technology company helping financial service providers digitise their business and successfully go through the process of digital transformation Earlier, the bank signed a EUR 20 million credit line with Raiffeisen Leasing to back investmements in SMEs. The loan agreement, representing the second tranche of a EUR 50 million loan, will finance projects by some 300 SMEs, supporting at least 8,000 jobs. The bank will also continue with its advisory activities, especially the JASPERS operations, Hudak stressed, adding that consultancy services have facilitated the implementation of projects worth some EUR 2 billion.

The TIBEI consortium has been selected as the owner's engineer for the building of the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector, the ICGB project company said. The owner's engineer is key for management and control of the realization of the project in the preparation phase and during the implementation of the construction process. The commitment involves assisting the contracting entity in the implementation of the project during the construction phase until the pipeline enters into operation and management of all the main contracts related to the project - including the contract for the supply of line pipes and the contract for the award of design, procurement and construction. TIBEI offered "the most economical price" for the main package of services - EUR 5,670,000. TIBEI is a consortium of foreign and Bulgarian companies including the following members: Tractebel Engineering S.A. (Belgium), Tractebel Engineering SRL (Italy), INTBER GMBH (registered in Austria), Ipsilon Consult OOD (Bulgaria) and Engineering EAD (Bulgaria). The open procedure was launched at the end of 2017 but was suspended for about 10 months due to appeals against actions of the contracting authority. In September 2018 twelve companies and consortiums submitted offers for participation in the open procedure.

Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) has produced the first gold concentrate from the Krumovgrad mine. "After many years of hard work and partnership with local shareholders, we are particularly pleased to announce that we have achieved this key success for our company with the first production of gold concentrate in the Krumovgrad mine in Southern Bulgaria," said DPM President Rick Howes. "With commercial production, which is due to start in the second quarter of the year, this is the start of a new DPM chapter that will lead to a significant increase in gold and revenue growth," he added. The company says that in the coming weeks, the production capacity will reach 105 tons per hour of the Ada Tepe concentrate. According to the DPM, total project costs are estimated at USD 164 - 166 million compared to previous estimates of USD 178 million.

Bulgarian software developer Gym Realm Technology has increased its capital to BGN 73,770 from BGN 65,770, as local climbing walls manufacturer Walltopia bought all newly-issued shares. Walltopia paid EUR 208,000 for the new 8,000 shares. Walltopia held 19,520 shares in Gym Realm Technology as of February 18, representing a 26.46% stake after the capital hike. The 8,000 newly-issued shares represent a further 10.84% shareholding, which likely brings the company's total interest in Gym Realm Technology to 37.3%. 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., the UK, Canada, Germany, Austria and Russia. The company has completed over 1,800 projects worldwide, with 320,000 sq. m. of climbing surface.

The first in the region specialized container for wood waste will be delivered in Veliko Tarnovo by the biggest wood processor Kronospan Bulgaria. The company and the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo have already signed a Memorandum of Partnership in the field of utilization of the wood waste, formed on the territory of the municipality. Among the goals set out in the Memorandum between the two sides are the rational utilization of wood waste and improvement of the environmental indicators in the municipal settlement system. The production of Kronospan Bulgaria replaces solid wood and thus relieves pressure on old forests.

BMW and Daimler are in talks to cooperate in developing vehicle platforms for electric cars in a step that could save each carmaker at least 7 billion euros ($7.91 billion), Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Auto Bild said on Thursday. The two premium carmakers already have a joint procurement program and recently extended their alliance to include development of advanced driver assistance systems and mobility services. The talks over whether to cooperate on vehicle platforms could still fall apart, Sueddeutsche and Auto Bild said, without citing sources. Both companies have acknowledged cooperation talks which include sharing engineering costs for driverless cars, but BMW and Daimler have repeatedly declined to comment on whether their cooperation could include entire vehicle platforms. BMW’s finance chief said in November he was open to deeper collaboration with Daimler but said it was difficult to identify win-win opportunities in the area of shared vehicle platforms.

Japanese automaker Toyota is upping its investment in the U.S. by 30 percent to $13 billion by 2021, the company said Thursday. The company pledged in 2017 to invest $10 billion in its U.S. factories over five years. The new plan includes adding 600 jobs at U.S. manufacturing plants, the company said. Toyota said it intends to increase production capacity and renovate factories in Huntsville, Alabama; Buffalo, West Virginia; Troy, Missouri; and Jackson, Tennessee. Part of the plan includes ramping up production of fuel-efficient vehicles. Toyota said it will produce hybrid versions of the RAV4 crossover and Lexus ES luxury sedan in Kentucky for the first time.

China pledged greater cooperation with American and European companies on Belt and Road ventures, in its latest bid to counter criticism that President Xi Jinping’s initiative is focused on projecting Beijing’s influence at the expense of host countries. China wants to combine its manufacturing and construction know-how with the advanced technology of Western firms on the global trade-and-infrastructure program, said Zhou Xiaofei, deputy secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission. Projects could also benefit from partnerships with U.S. and European enterprises on professional services, management and financing, Zhou said Thursday. The two-day event is part of a broader Chinese effort to soften the image of Xi’s main foreign policy program as host countries grow more cautious and the U.S. criticizes its loan-based funding model as “debt-trap diplomacy.” Accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and unfair contracts have dogged the initiative, and a potential agreement with Italy -- the first with a Group of Seven nation -- drew Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini’s warning that it risked “colonizing Italy.”