The basic tax and social security rates remain unchanged, and plans for a new increase in the minimum wage after 2021 (when it will reach BGN 650) are not yet in place. The government has so far refrained from post-mandate periods. This is clear from the mid-term budget forecast for the 2020-2022 period of the Ministry of Finance. Similar to the attitudes in the autumn forecast, a coherent budget balance is set for the next two years, while 2019 is expected to end with a deficit of BGN 600 million or 0.5% of GDP. The agency expects 3.4% growth in the economy this year at 3.1% in 2018, 0.3 percentage points below expectations in autumn. The medium-term budget forecast is created each year and reflects the direction in which public finances will develop for several years to come, as well as the expectations of the government for the country's economy. The Finance coherence is counting on continued growth both in revenue and in spending over the next three years. However, their rate of increase will be lower than that of the country's GDP, so the redistributive role of the state will decrease, with revenues expected to be equivalent to 36% of GDP in 2022, down from 38% this year.

There is a possibility of stopping the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Bulgaria and Romania before the end of the mandate of the current European Commission. This was what Vice-President of the EU Commission, France Timmermans said at a press conference dedicated to the rule of law. According to him, in order for this to happen Commission's recommendations for Bulgaria and Romania should be fulfilled. He pointed out that there was a lot of work left to be done in Bulgaria, but much had been achieved when it comes to the rule of law so far. The monitoring mechanism was set up to solve problems that should have been solved before the accession of the countries to the EU. I have concerns because Bulgaria and Romania were welcomed to the EU in 2007 and these issues have not yet been resolved, Timmermans added.

The National Assembly approved the Cabinet's proposal for privatization of separate parts of the property of Vazov Machine Works EAD - Sopot (VMZ-Sopot). According to the petitioner, the purpose is to divest detachments in three aggregated positions of VMZ - Sopot due to their lack of necessity for the realization of the production and commercial activity of the company. They are not used and additional costs are needed to support them. Vazov Machine Works EAD - Sopot is included in the so-called Prohibition List of the Privatization and Post-privatization Control Act. The privatization of detached parts of its property shall be carried out by the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Agency after the decision of the National Assembly on the proposal of the Government. The properties consist of over 1,000 decares of built-up areas with state "industrial building", warehouses, Chevira holiday base in the village of Starosel, wood-producing areas.

The Italian-Saudi Consortium Arkad was announced as the winner of the public procurement procedure for the construction contractor for the gas pipeline from the Turkish to the Serbian border in Bulgaria, which may become part of the so-called TurkStream, Bulgartransgas, which held the procedure, said. Arkad offered the lowest price for completing the works. Three bids were submitted in the procedure: from DZZD Consortium Gas Development and Extension in Bulgaria's GRRB, which included Consortio Varna 1 (set up by Bonatti S.p.A. and Max Streicher S.p.A.) and Completions Development S.a.R.L. Bulgaria branch; a consortium of Fovallalkozo Zrt and Industries-KVV Kivitelezo Zrt from Hungary; and Consortium Arkad with participants Arcad ABB S.p.A. From Italy and Arkad Engineering and Constructions Company from Saudi Arabia.

The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) said that the European Energy Exchange (EEX) will start offering Bulgarian power futures, starting from June 3. EEX will offer weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual Bulgarian power futures. The new product is a result of a cooperation agreement between EEX and IBEX, signed in December last year. IBEX, established in 2014, holds a 10-year license by the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission for organizing a Power Exchange for electricity in Bulgaria. IBEX is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

Bulgaria's financial regulator has informed its French counterpart that central securities depository Euroclear France, part of the ESES group, can offer its services in Bulgaria under the freedom to provide services in the European Economic Area. The Financial Supervision Commission did not provide further details in its statement, published on Tuesday. Euroclear France, together with Euroclear Nederland and Euroclear Belgium, forms the ESES group of central depositories. Euroclear France provides settlement and custody services for the full range of government and corporate securities in France.

Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission has approved the prospectus of local company Green Town Projects for an initial public offering of 8 million newly-issued shares on the stock exchange in Sofia at a price of BGN 1 each. The regulator did not disclose further details in its decision published on Tuesday. Green Town Projects will consider the IPO successful if at least 4 million shares are subscribed for and paid for. The company intends to use the proceeds from the IPO to form an investment portfolio consisting of apartments and residential complexes, stakes in real estate investment companies and companies offering real estate-related services, as well as stakes in companies outside the propeprty sector. The company's registered capital of BGN 50,000 is fully owned by a private individual. Green Town Projects was established in November 2018.

Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission has approved the prospectus of local real estate management company Neo London Capital for listing an eight-year BGN 20 million bond on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The issue consists of 20,000 bonds with a nominal value of BGN 1,000 each, the regulator said in a statement. The bonds carry an annual coupon of 6.75% with payments due semi-annually. Neo London Capital shares started trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in February 2017.

Austria has vowed to tax tech giants, following France's new levy on the so-called GAFA companies: Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The EU has been trying to implement a bloc-wide policy on the matter. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Saturday announced plans to impose a tax on large internet and technology companies. The basic framework of the Austrian scheme is expected to be announced during a government summit at the beginning of January. Kutz's proposal, which comes as the European Union struggles to finalize a new EU-wide levy, will likely come into force in 2020. "In addition to an EU-wide move, we'll also act on a national level. We will introduce a digital tax in Austria," Kurz said. "The aim is clear — to tax companies that generate huge profits online, but pay hardly any tax on them, such as Facebook or Amazon." The European Commission estimates that such firms pay a tax rate on their profits of 9 percent on average, compared to 23 percent for traditional companies. France will start taxing Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon — the big US technology companies known as GAFA — from January 1. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said he hoped the new tax would raise EUR 500 million in 2019.

U.S. private sector expanded payrolls with 129,000 jobs in March, according to the ADP Research Institute’s monthly report. This marks ADP’s lowest reading since September 2017. "March posted the slowest employment increase in 18 months," ADP Research Institute Vice President Ahu Yildirmaz said. "Although some service sectors showed continued strength, we saw weakness in the goods producing sector." The sum was bolstered by gains in natural resources and mining; information services; trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; education and health services; and leisure and hospitality. The additions were offset by losses in construction (6,000), manufacturing (2,000) and financial services (1,000). Altogether, the trends portend a slowdown in sector expansion. "The job market is weakening, with employment gains slowing significantly across most industries and company sizes,” Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said in a press release. “Businesses are hiring cautiously as the economy is struggling with fading fiscal stimulus, the trade uncertainty, and the lagged impact of Fed tightening. If employment growth weakens much further, unemployment will begin to rise."

South Korea will become the first country to commercially launch fifth-generation (5G) services on Friday as it rolls out the latest wireless technology with Samsung Electronics’ new 5G-enabled smartphone Galaxy S10. With one of the world’s top smartphone penetration rates, South Korea is in a race with China, the United States and Japan to market 5G, hoping the technology will spur breakthrough in fields such as smart cities and autonomous cars, and drive up its economic growth that slowed to a six-year low in 2018. “It is meaningful that South Korean telecom companies are providing services and networks meeting South Korean customers’ high standard in speed and picture quality,” Ryu Young-sang, executive vice president at the country’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom, said on Wednesday. 5G will change the landscape of the gaming industry as it allows games streamed with minimal delay to be played on smartphones, Ryu added. The technology can offer 20-times faster data speeds than 4G long-term evolution (LTE) networks and better support for artificial intelligence and virtual reality with low latency. Sometimes it can offer 100-times faster speeds.