The average insured income for the country in January 2019 is BGN 951.57, the National Social Security Institute reported. Compared to December, there was a slight decrease of 0.35%, but usually in the last month of the year the insured income is higher because of the bonuses paid. Compared to a year earlier, the increase was 10.24%. The average monthly insurance income for the country for the period from 1 February 2018 to 31 January 2019 is 897.13 BGN. The amount is used for the calculation of the newly issued pensions in February.

Applications for declarations, by which enterprises which did not operate during the reporting period, are exempted from the obligation to publish the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements and the annual report on their activities will be treated in the order of their receipt separately from other applications. Similarly will be considered the applications for registration of the actual owners under the Measures Against Money Laundering Act and the Economic and Financial Relations Act with the companies registered in preferential tax jurisdictions, the persons controlled by them and their actual owners. This is provided in a draft amendment and supplement to the Commercial Register Act and the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities adopted by the Council of Ministers. The declaration, by which enterprises inactive during the reporting period, are exempted from the obligation to publish the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements and their annual activity report shall be published in the Commercial Register by 31 March of the following year. According to the National Statistical Institute, the number of these enterprises is between 150,000 and 200,000.

Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria is launching market consultations on the selection of partners for the implementation of the financial instrument ‘Portfolio Guarantees with a Loss Limit’. It is funded by the Operational Program ‘Innovation and Competitiveness’ 2014-2020 (OPIC). The purpose of the instrument is to support lending or finance leases to both micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies. This will happen as the Fund of Funds will provide guarantees to cover possible losses from non-payment by final recipients of institutions that provide funding. The financial instrument will directly contribute to improving the access of the target enterprises to external financing at favorable conditions. Lending will focus on two strategic for the country directions. The first will be focused on innovation projects - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Pharmacy and Biotechnology, Mechatronics, Nano and Clean Technologies, Creative and Recreational Industries. The second objective of the scheme will be funding projects in the field of energy efficiency. The resource provided by the Fund will allow for the creation of a new portfolio of at least BGN 685 million - BGN 293 million for innovation and BGN 392 million for energy efficiency respectively.

German cable systems manufacturer Leoni warned that it would not reach its profit target set just a month ago. In addition, the company plans to cut 2,000 people. "The company faces a challenging environment in the markets, especially in China," Leoni said, adding that orders from car manufacturers dropped significantly. The German company said that major management positions would be cut and that the reduction of the workforce would not affect production positions. The company also said it did not decide exactly where the redundancies will be done. Around 90,000 people worldwide work for Leoni. The plant in Pleven will be located on an area of 30,000 square meters. Earlier, the governor Miroslav Petrov stressed that this is the largest foreign investment in the region over the last decade. Leoni Bulgaria plant will produce components for the German concern Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz.

The Bulgarian Stock Exchange said that local resort operator Albena has appointed brokerage Elana Trading as its market maker. Elana Trading will assume the role as of April 1. Elana Trading commits to keeping a buy/sell spread of 5% or lower, with a minimum value of the quote at the time of entering of BGN 2,500, in at least half of all trading days within each month.

The Bulgarian unit of German retail chain Kaufland has opened a second base at its logistics complex in Rakovski Industrial Zone, near the city of Plovdiv, following an investment of over BGN 64 million. The new base will create 100 jobs. The retailer also announced that it is going to build its fifth store in the city of Varna, on the Black Sea coast. Last month, the company opened a new store in Veliko Tarnovo, in central Bulgaria - an investment of nearly BGN 25 million. Kaufland Bulgaria's logistics complex which spreads on 359,000 sq m services all of the company's 59 stores and employs 600 people. The company has invested over BGN 233 million in the logistics complex since its launch in 2005. Kaufland Bulgaria has invested over BGN 1.4 billion since it started operations in 2006 and currently employs over 6,000 people.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will cooperate with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the implementation of the regional development policy in Bulgaria and the preparation for programming for the next program period 2021-2027. To this end the Council of Ministers approved a draft Agreement between the two institutions for providing consultancy support in preparation for the next programming period. Consultancy assistance is scheduled to continue until the end of December 2020. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will analyze the structure and functioning of the key units responsible for implementing regional policy. The consultancy assistance that the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide to the regional ministry under the draft Agreement amounts to BGN 1,913,000 and will be provided under the Operational Program ‘Regions for Growth’ 2014-2020. The results of the implementation of the Agreement will contribute both to the implementation of the National Strategy for Regional Development in Bulgaria for the period 2012-2022 and to the preparation of the new National Strategy and Territorial Planning Document for the period 2021-2030.

Spain's competition watchdog has fined Siemens AG, Alstom SA and Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA and 12 other companies 118 million euros for rigging public contracts awarded by rail-infrastructure operator ADIF. The regulator--known as CNMC--said the 15 companies that were fined had operated as three separate cartels to manipulate the contracting process over a period of 14 years. On top of the EUR118 million, CNMC imposed fines totaling EUR666,000 to 14 company directors who were found to be responsible for the manipulation. According to the watchdog, various configurations of the 15 companies conspired to illegally share out contracts relating to the electrification of the high-speed AVE rail network, the electrification of the regular rail network, and for the installation and maintenance of high-speed rail equipment. The total value of contracts awarded to the AVE-electrification cartel reached EUR837 million, the regulator said.

The U.S. trade deficit tumbled nearly 15 percent in January as imports fell and exports rose. Shipments of American goods to China skidded to the lowest level in more than eight years as the world’s two biggest economies remained locked in a trade war. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the gap between the goods and services that the United States sells and what it buys from other countries dropped by 14.6 percent to $51.1 billion in January from $59.9 billion in December. Exports rose 0.9 percent to $207.3 billion, and imports dropped 2.6 percent to $258.5 billion. The deficit in the trade of goods with China narrowed by 6.4 percent to $34.5 billion. U.S. goods exports to China dropped 22.3 percent to $7.1 billion, lowest since September 2010; Chinese imports dropped 9.6 percent to $41.6 billion. The Trump administration has imposed taxes on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, and the Chinese have retaliated by targeting about $110 billion in American products.

Profits earned by China's industrial firms dropped 14.0 percent year-on-year to 708.01 billion yuan (USD 105.50 billion) in the first two months of 2019, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday. The sharp decline follows December's 1.9 percent fall and marked the biggest contraction since Reuters began keeping records in October 2011. The data combines figures for January and February to smooth out distortions caused by the week-long China's Lunar New Year. Chinese industrial firms' liabilities rose 6.0 percent from a year earlier to 62.4 trillion yuan by end-February, compared with a 5.2 percent rise as of end-2018. The data covers large companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan from their main operations.