The consumer price index in Bulgaria for July 2019 compared to June 2019 is 100.8%, i.e. monthly inflation is 0.8%, according to the National Statistical Institute. The inflation since the beginning of the year (July 2019 compared to December 2018) is 2%, while the annual inflation for July 2019 compared to July 2018 is 2.9%. The average annual inflation for the period August 2018 - July 2019 compared to the period August 2017 - July 2018 is 3.3%. In July 2019 compared to the previous month the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.3%, the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 0.2%, those of clothing and footwear decreased by 2.9%. The prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 1.2%, the prices of healthcare increased by 0.1% and the prices of transport by 0.4%. In July, the prices for entertainment and culture increased by 6.6% and for restaurants and hotels by 2.8%.

The number of unemployed in Bulgaria is 142.0 thousand in the second quarter of 2019, of which 82.7 thousand (58.2 per cent) are men and 59.3 thousand (41.8 per cent) - women, reported the National Statistical Institute. The unemployment rate is 4.2 per cent and is down 1.3 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2018. Of all the unemployed, 15.1 percent have higher education, 45.1 percent have secondary education, and 39.8 percent have primary or lower education. In the second quarter of 2019, long-term unemployed (one or more years) are 84.5 thousand, or 59.5 percent of all unemployed. The long-term unemployment rate is 2.5 percent, down 0.7 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2018. Of the total unemployed, 25.1 thousand, or 17.7 percent, are looking for a first job.

Certified biochemistry company Alteya Organics will double its production capacity with the construction of a new building, which will contain additional automated lines for the production of bio-cosmetic products, rosary and storage facilities. The new building is almost ready and is likely to be put into operation by the end of August or early September. The invested amount was up to BGN 1 million. The building’s built-up area is 2500 sq.m. For its construction Alteya Organics won a project under the Rural Development Program. The company now employs 38 people, and with the opening of the new production facilities up to 15 more jobs will be created. In the US, Alteya Organics also has an office that employs about 15 people. Alteya Organics exports 85% of its products to the Asian and US markets, about 10% is sold on the European market, about 5% for Bulgaria.

Bulgarian investors dominated the country's real estate investment market in the first half of 2019 with a share of 59% of all deals, property consultants Colliers International said. The increased number of local investments is reversing the trend from the last two years when foreign investors were responsible for the bulk of the real estate investments in Bulgaria. Local companies invested EUR 99 million in the review period, while foreign companies invested EUR 69 million. In 2018, local investments in real estate amounted to EUR 204 million, while foreign investments totalled EUR 464 million. The total value of the investment transactions slightly exceeded EUR 167 million in the first six months of the year. Development land transactions constituted about 42% of the volume, followed by offices and hotels with 32% and 19%, respectively. "By the end of 2019 investment volumes are likely to stand lower compared to the last two years, but still exceed the annual levels in the period 2009-2016. Office and retail properties will continue to show the greatest investment potential due to their sustainable development, high occupancy levels and stable rents," Colliers said.

Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) has registered a fourth national provider of electronic toll collection services. According to a decision of the Board of Directors of RIA, Icom LTD was registered as a national service provider, which wants to partner only in the collection of toll taxes. According to the General Terms and Conditions, the company will go through the second stage of the procedure for signing a contract, after which it will prove interoperability with the electronic system and only then start the activity of providing the services. Until now, the Agency had a contract for a national service provider with Intelligent Traffic Systems SPJSC, Teletoll JSC and Concord Smart Infrastructure JSC, with two of the companies already selling electronic vignettes - Intelligent Traffic Systems and Concord Smart Infrastructure. Teletoll does not sell electronic vignettes because it has not achieved interoperability with the RIA system.

The state-owned Bulgargaz significantly increased its net profit in the first six months of this year and reached BGN 27.9 million. This was recorded in the financial statement of the company, which was recently published. The profit of the company increased by 187.5%, and in the same period last year the profit was only BGN 9.3 million. The company managed to pay their imposed fine in the BEH gas case. The company jointly with BEH and Bulgartransgaz paid one third of the imposed fine, which amounts to BGN 50.2 million. The amount was paid at the end of 2018, explained Bulgargaz. Since the beginning of the year Bulgargaz has signed several contracts for the supply of natural gas through a virtual outlet.

The Supreme Administrative Court has definitively turned down the appeal of the “Coalition for sustainable development” and Ecoglasnost against the environmental assessment of the project for a national low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste depository at the Kozloduy NPP site near the town of Kozloduy in Northwestern Bulgaria, the Radioactive Waste state enterprise which is implementing the project has announced. The depository will be used for hazardous waste from power generation, medicine, industry, agriculture and science. The depot, which ought to be completed by 2021, costs EUR 70 million to be provided from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund for compensating for the early shutdown of reactors 1 to 4 of Bulgaria’s only nuclear power plant.

The United Kingdom is asking logistics providers to bid for an express freight contract worth 25 million pounds a day to supply drugs to the country after it will leave the European Union on October 31. Earlier this week, Reuters announced that health experts are warning that shortages of some medicines could worsen in Europe in the case of Brexit without a deal, as the UK deadline of October 31 approaches. The health and social care ministry has said the treaty will be part of contingency plans to tackle any complications stemming from Britain's exit from the world's largest trading bloc. The service is designed to deliver small shipments of medicines or medical devices on a 24-hour basis with an additional provision that may allow the delivery of larger pallets within two to four days. "I want to ensure that when we leave the EU at the end of October, all appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that the most important services are fully prepared," said Health Minister Chris Skidmore.

President Donald Trump called Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “clueless” and blamed his policies for signs in the bond markets that a recession is looming. The president tried to deflect criticism that his trade war with China is harming the economic outlook, as stock markets tumble and bond yields show signs of an impending global slowdown. “China is not our problem, though Hong Kong is not helping. Our problem is with the Fed. Raised too much & too fast,” Trump said in a series of tweets on Wednesday. He repeated his criticism that the U.S. is being harmed by the Fed not lowering interest rates quickly enough relative to other countries. For Trump, who is hoping to make the economy a central part of his case for his 2020 re-election campaign, further rate cuts could not come fast enough. He has been berating the Fed for its rate increases for more than a year - since even before his trade rift with China morphed from being considered an economic annoyance to a larger and potentially durable risk.

China has severely restricted imports of gold since May, bullion industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in a move that could be aimed at curbing outflows of dollars and bolstering its yuan currency as economic growth slows. The world’s second largest economy has cut shipments by some 300-500 tonnes compared with last year - worth $15-25 billion at current prices, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The restrictions come as an escalating trade confrontation with the United States has dragged China’s pace of growth to the slowest in nearly three decades and pressured the yuan to its lowest since 2008. China is the world’s biggest importer of gold, sucking in around 1,500 tonnes of metal worth some $60 billion last year, according to its customs data – equivalent to one-third of the world’s total supply. Chinese demand for gold jewelry, investment bars and coins has trebled in the last two decades as the country has rapidly become wealthier. China’s official gold reserves meanwhile rose fivefold to nearly 2,000 tonnes, according to official data.