The Ministry of Finance envisages 2019 to be the last with a budget deficit, and next year it will plan the budget with a surplus of 0.4% of GDP for 2020, 0.2% of GDP for 2021 and 0.1% of GDP for 2022. This is included in the draft medium-term budgetary projection by 2022 published for public discussion. The ministry's forecast is for GDP growth of 3.3% per annum in the next three years, 4.1% unemployment in 2020 and 4% over the next two, and declining annual average inflation from 2.5% to 2.1%. In 2020-2022, employment growth is expected to slow down and gradually move to a 0.1 percentage points reduction in 2021 and 0.3 pp in 2022. The explanation is for the negative demographic trends that are reflected in a decline in the workforce. In addition, the free labor resource of unemployed and discouraged people (who want to work but do not believe they will find a job) has quickly exhausted. The unemployment rate will continue to decline to around 4.0% in 2021-2022. The finance ministry's forecast is that inflation will decrease due to the expected decline in international oil prices, the stabilization of prices for other commodities, and the slower growth of domestic search.

The deposit money of Bulgarian households grew to nearly BGN 54 billion at the end of February, according to the latest data from the Bulgarian National Bank. This is by almost BGN 420 million more than a month earlier, and BGN 4.2 billion above the savings levels a year ago. Nearly a quarter of this growth was achieved in December, when the deposits growth of the population was BGN 916 million. Despite the new highest value of savings, this does not bring much benefit to Bulgarian households for the time being. Interest income reached the lowest value for the past 12 years and came close to its minimum value in 2006. The commercial banks in Bulgaria paid BGN 13.1 million in the form of household interest for the first two months of the year. At that time, however, deposits were nearly 3 times less - only BGN 19 billion compared to BGN 54 billion as of February 28, 2019. On a monthly basis, however, interest earnings are indeed at the 13-year minimum because in the first two months of 2006 they were respectively BGN 6.8 million and BGN 6.3 million compared to BGN 5.8 million in February 2019.

The German company MD Elektronik will build a new factory for automotive cables in the town of Vratsa, with an investment of BGN 22 million. The Pleven company Horizont - Ivanov, which already has a portfolio of factories - of the German Leoni in Pleven , the Indian Varroc and the Yazaki in Dimitrovgrad, will be responsible for the construction of the plant. The building will have almost 9 decares built up and just over 10 decares of space.

Guala Closures Bulgaria, part of Italy-headquartered non-refillable closures maker Guala Closures Group, plans to decrease capital by BGN 4.2 million to BGN 6.22 million in order to offset the negative effect of a recent merger. Guala Closures Bulgaria absorbed its unit Guala Closures Tools last year. Guala Closures Bulgaria's shareholders have approved the capital reduction at a meeting on March 22. Guala Closures International, part of Guala Closures Group, owns a 70% stake in the Bulgarian subsidiary, while TN Partners holds the remaining 30%. Kazanlak-based Guala Closures Bulgaria generated revenue of BGN 19.2 million in 2018 and ended the year with a net profit of BGN 2.5 million.

The producer of microwave popcorn AST Popcorn has invested BGN 6 million in a second production facility and an office building in the Plovdiv village of Trud. About BGN 1.8 million of the funding is a subsidy under the Rural Development Program, 20% are own funds and the rest of the amount is provided by a bank credit. The new factory, which will produce microwave popcorn, is located on 5,200 square meters of built-up area. The construction is planned to be completed in early 2020 and the plant to work at full speed in the middle of 2020. Now AST Popcorn has a factory in Saedinenie, with a surface area of 3000 sq.m. production halls, warehouse and administrative offices. The company is expected to open 30 new jobs. In the last six years the company has invested BGN 4 million in the renovation and modernization of production facilities. The turnover of the company in 2017 is BGN 8.87 million and the profit is BGN 875 thousand. For 2018, the company reports a 22% increase in revenues compared to the previous year, according to the company.

Bulgarian drug trader Sopharma Trading has signed a BGN 19 million drug supply deal with local Complex Oncology Center - Plovdiv, the municipal-owned hospital said. Under the terms of the deal, Sopharma Trading will supply the hospital with the Pembrolizumab 100 mg drug, Complex Oncology Center - Plovdiv said in a notice on Wednesday. The deal was signed on March 22. Three companies submitted offers in the public procurement procedure for awarding the contract. Sopharma Trading is a unit of Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma.

The water utility company serving the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Sofiyska Voda, said that its net profit rose to BGN 31.2 million in 2018 from BGN 30.0 million the year before. The company's revenue grew to BGN 199 million last year from BGN 188.1 million in 2017. Expenses for hired services increased to BGN 28.6 million in 2018 from BGN 27.1 million a year earlier, while expenses for materials edged up to BGN 9.2 million from BGN 9.0 million. Amortisation costs rose to BGN 41.7 million last year from BGN 36.8 million the year before. Sofiyska Voda was established in October 2000 under a 25-year concession contract for the operation and maintenance of Sofia's water supply and sewerage system. France's Veolia Water owns 77.1% of the company's capital, while the Sofia municipality holds a stake of 22.9%.

Germany’s painful industrial slump shows little sign of ending, with factory orders plunging the most in a decade in February, led by a drop in exports. The bad news from the Economy Ministry was followed just hours later by new forecasts for 2019 that predicted the weakest growth in six years. The country’s five leading research institutes see expansion of 0.8 percent, just half the pace previously anticipated. The data on Thursday showed orders fell 4.2 percent in February from January, and 8.4 percent from a year earlier -- the most since 2009. The Economy Ministry added further gloom, saying that manufacturing momentum will “continue to be subdued in the coming months, particularly due to a lack of external demand.” The big drag in February was exports, which fell 6 percent. Trade tensions and Brexit woes are two factors likely behind the slump, while there’s also weaker demand, particularly in China, for cars and other German products. All that is sapping the engine of growth, leaving Europe’s largest economy looking in poor shape so far this year.

UniCredit SpA is nearing an agreement with U.S. authorities over allegations that the bank provided dollar-clearing services to Iranian clients in violation of U.S. sanctions, people with the knowledge of the matter said. The deal would cost the Italian lender about $900 million but spare it from criminal prosecution, the people said. A settlement of that size would be one of the largest for violations of U.S. sanctions laws, exceeded only by agreements reached with Societe Generale SA, Commerzbank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and BNP Paribas SA. Among them, only BNP Paribas admitted guilt. The others entered into deferred-prosecution agreements. A deal is expected in the coming weeks, the people said. It would resolve investigations of UniCredit by the U.S. Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Federal Reserve, the Manhattan district attorney’s office and New York’s Department of Financial Services.

Uncertainties generated by the trade war between the United States and China and the see-sawing of Brexit could contribute to a sluggish rate of development in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As per a report published in Reuters, the ADB lowered its estimates of growth for the 45 countries clubbed under 'Developing Asia' in the Asia-Pacific for the second consecutive year. In 2018, the growth was pegged at 5.9% and around 6.2% in 2017. Dire as these statistics are, the estimates for 2020 – according to the ADB will be hitting a near-18-year low (since 2001) – are 5.6%. With respect to individual countries, the ADB's report mentioned that for 2019, China would maintain a growth rate of 6.3%, a reduction of 0.3% from its growth rate in 2018. For 2020, the ADB estimated that China would grow at 6%. India, on the other hand, is estimated to grow at 7.2% in 2019, an increase of about 0.2% from its growth rate of 7% in 2018. In 2020, as per ADB's analysis, the Indian economy would grow at around 7.3%.