Romania and Bulgaria led in terms of rise in hourly labour costs in the second quarter of 2019 among European Union member states, compared to the prior-year period, the bloc's statistical office said. Labour costs in Romania were 12.4% higher year-on-year in the first six months of 2019, while in Bulgaria they grew by 11.0%, Eurostat said. Hourly labour costs in Romania increased in the review period mainly due to higher wage and salaries costs. In Bulgaria, hourly labour costs rose due to higher non-wage costs. From all EU member states in Southeast Europe (SEE) only Greece and Croatia recorded increases in hourly labour costs below the EU average of 3.1% in the second quarter.

The traditional pension indexation as of July every year will exceed 6% in 2020 due to the stronger growth of the average insurance income, social affairs minister Biser Petkov announced, quoted by local media. Petkov restrained from setting an exact percentage of the increase but was confident that it would be over 6%. We note that the pension indexation in Jul 2019 was slightly lower, at 5.7%. The minister also commented that the minimum wage growth pace during the current GERB-United Patriots’ government mandate was predictable and clear. The minimum wage will rise by BGN50 to BGN610 as of 2020, as well as by BGN40 to BGN650 in 2021, he said. The minister had recently announced that the minimum insurance thresholds will be upped by 10% on average for all professions as of Jan 2020 as well. Petkov added that the reason for the continuing practice of the government’s administrative setting of the minimum wage and insurance thresholds every year was related to the absence of clarity on the factors influencing the minimum wage. Petkov did not say whether the government plans to work on the issue and come up with a new mechanism on minimum wage setting in the short run.

Biovet Peshtera officially opens the doors of the new plant for the production of pharmaceuticals and feed additives. The total investment is BGN 300 mln, of which BGN 200 mln was financed with a loan under the Junker Plan in 2018. The production facilities creates more than 200 new jobs for highly qualified workers and specialists in the fields of biotechnology, chemistry and engineering. This project is part of the company's growth strategy as a European Union-based pharmaceutical company operating in global markets. The successful realization of this investment leads to a 50% increase in the production and fermentation capacity of the company.

Portuguese glass packaging manufacturer BA Glass plans to invest some BGN 400 million in expansion of its production capacity in Bulgaria over five years. The majority of the investment will be made in 2020 and 2021. BA Glass intends to build two new furnaces to double the production capacity of its facilities in Bulgaria. The company currently operates two furnaces in the country - in Sofia and Plovdiv. BA Glass acquired Bulgaria's Drujba Glassworks from Greek glassmaker Yioula in 2017. Drujba Glassworks was subsequently renamed to BA Glass Bulgaria and delisted from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Since then, BA Glass has already invested BGN 83 million in several projects at its Plovdiv plant, including the replacement of the old furnace with a new one, which has 70% larger capacity - 120,000 tons. The new furnace, which became operational this year, is expected to help the company increase its output in the country from 330,000 tons of glass packaging in 2018 to 340,000 tons this year and 380,000 tons in 2020.

All bourse-traded funds of Expat Asset Management, which is part of Expat Capital, can be held by the clients of the Swiss central depository SIX SIS and the Hungarian central depository Keler. The Swiss Central Depository SIX SIS is one of the four major international depositary institutions, linking financial markets around the world, together with Clearstream, Euroclear and DTCC. Currently it covers over 60 markets worldwide and has direct links with central depositories in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Luxembourg, Austria and Denmark. The registration of Expat Funds in SIH SIS allows them to be traded on all exchanges in the countries, with which SIX SIS Central Depositories have a direct connection.The Hungarian Central Depository Keler is a leading depositary institution in the capital markets in Central and Eastern Europe, which covers over 50 markets worldwide through its links with Clearstream and SIX SIS and has direct links with the central depositories of Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and recently Bulgaria.

The Plovdiv Court of Appeal affirmed the precautionary measures imposed on most of the assets of the bankrupt Remotex - Radnevo, which were requested by former workers and creditors united in the Cherpivir company. Four months ago, the Stara Zagora District Court issued a ruling in that direction, but it was appealed. The current second instance ruling is final, meaning that the current owner of the assets Remotex M will not be able to dispose of them so that they end up in another owner. This is necessary since the main litigation is precisely the controversial transfer through a complex series of property transactions of the former Mini Maritsa Iztok SPJSC repair plant to another company, in which Greek citizen Ioannis Giofkos, a resident in Bulgaria, is a major contributor. A case is currently underway to reverse this transfer, which, if any, will rewind the tape back five years and the property could be returned to the bankrupt Remotex - Radnevo.

If the Dunarit weapons company reaches a private enforcement agent, the state will enter the auction, Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov said. He stressed that at present there is no nationalization procedure. "At the moment, an offshore company is the owner of Dunarit," Karanikolov said. Asked who was behind this offshore, the minister replied that the rumors were leading to former banker Tsvetan Vasilev. "If Dunarit goes public, the state will do everything it can to acquire it. Mr Gebrev and I have came to understanding not to interfere in case an offshore company tries to acquire it again. Last year, the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) managed to get EUR 1 billion of authorized orders. For the first 6 months of this year, we have over EUR 550 million of authorized orders," the minister said. According to him, there is no ban on an offshore company to acquire such a company.

The French government has called for cryptocurrency rules at the European Union (EU) level, as well as for the creation of a “public digital currency.” “A common framework” on cryptocurrencies is needed for the 28 EU countries, said France’s Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Finland. For the creation of a European “public digital currency," the minister did not provide specific details, though he could mean a central bank digital currency (CBDC). China is also “ready” to ship its CBDC after five years of research and development. Interestingly, former French minister and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief, Christine Lagarde, also recently encouraged the “exploration” of CBDCs because of slowing demand for cash and rising preference for digital money. Lagarde is also one of the front-runners to be the European Central Bank's (ECB’s) next president, which means chances of a European CBDC could be higher. At the meeting, Le Maire also reiterated his opposition to the development of Facebook’s Libra stablecoin in the EU. Just yesterday, he said that France will block Libra’s development because it threatens the “monetary sovereignty” of governments.

U.S. House panel conducting a broad antitrust investigation of the technology sector is demanding that companies turn over a trove of internal records about their business practices as it ramps up scrutiny of the industry. Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline, who is leading the House antitrust subcommittee’s inquiry into large internet companies, said it is sending letters Friday to Google parent Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. asking for detailed information about acquisitions, business practices, executive communications, previous probes and lawsuits. The letters, which were addressed to the top executives of each company, mark the most aggressive demands by the House panel since June, when it began a bipartisan investigation into whether large tech platforms are harming competition. “We made it clear when we launched this bipartisan investigation that we plan to get all the facts we need to diagnose the problems in the digital marketplace,” Cicilline said in a statement. “Today’s document requests are an important milestone in this investigation as we work to obtain the information that our members need to make this determination.”

London Stock Exchange Group Plc has rejected a takeover proposal from Asian rival Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., saying the bid has “fundamental flaws.” The board of the British bourse, which is working on its own deal to buy data provider Refinitiv, said HKEX’s approach on Wednesday had problems in its “strategy, deliverability, form of consideration and value.” “Your assertion that implementation of a transaction would be ‘swift and certain’ is simply not credible,” the firm said in a statement Friday. “Given the fundamental flaws in your proposal, we see no merit in further engagement.” HKEX intends to continue its pursuit of the deal, according to Financial News. The firm previously said that its takeover would only happen if the LSE dropped its combination with Refinitiv -- and that it could go hostile if the business resisted its plans to build an Anglo-Asian markets giant. The shares initially rose as much as 16% on Wednesday after HKEX said it wanted to combine the exchanges in a cash-and-stock deal that valued the London firm at 29.6 billion pounds ($36.9 billion). However, the stock pared gains after analysts poured cold water on the deal and top investors raised doubts about its attractiveness compared to the Refinitiv acquisition.