Hourly labour costs in Bulgaria increased by 11.0% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said, citing preliminary data. Salary costs rose by an annual 10.9% in the April-June period, while other labour costs increased 11.6% on the year. Hourly labour costs rose the most in services - by 11.1% on the year, followed by construction and industry, with annual increases of 10.6% and 9.8%, respectively. In terms of economic activities, the highest growth rate, of 17.9%, was recorded in the education sector. The gross domestic product (GDP) per person employed in Bulgaria increased by an annual 3.5% to BGN 8,011.8 in the second quarter of 2019.

The impact of EU funds on economic growth in Bulgaria remains modest if judged by the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) assessment of the impact of the implementation of the programs in the new period 2014 - 2020. Although only one year remains until the end of the period, the absorbed EU funds so far have increased the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by only 5.5% or about BGN 5 billion by mid-2019. Without EU funds, private investment would have been at about 15% lower and consumption - 6.6% lower. In the sixth year of the second programming period, the average implementation of the ten European programs was only 34.6%. This means that EUR 4.054 billion was actually used from the total contracted budget of EUR 9.9 billion, of which EUR 639.5 million is national co-financing. The most tangible effect is that EU programs have played a role in the labor market. Without them, the jobs created would have been less by about 200,000, with unemployment going up by 4 points. However, for the most part, subsidized jobs are low-paid, as the Treasury's estimate shows that, as a result of subsidized employment, the average wage since 2014 has increased by only 4.9%.

Japan is interested in investing in the manufacturing of medical devices in Bulgaria as well as in the country's automotive and energy sectors, Bulgaria's economy ministry said. Japan is also ready to provide full support to Bulgarian start-up companies seeking expansion to the Asian country, the ministry said in a statement following a meeting between Bulgaria's deputy economy minister and Japan's state minister of economy in Tokyo. Bulgarian exports to Japan increased by 4.4% on the year to USD 49.3 million in 2018, while imports from Japan rose 39.8% to USD 165 million.

The Czech company Auto Kelly A.S. is becoming the owner of Elit Car Ltd. It already has a permit from the Commission on Protection of Competition, which allows it to concentrate by acquiring joint control over the Varna-based auto parts trading company. The CPC assessment was required as the total turnover of the participants in this transaction exceeded BGN 25 million last year. Auto Kelly is part of the economic group of LKQ Corporation and is registered under the laws of Delaware, USA. The company sells directly, as well as through its subsidiaries, wholesale and retail of maintenance and repair products for light and heavy motor vehicles and motorcycles, including motor vehicle spare parts and accessories, as well as auto service equipment and tools. Auto Kelly Bulgaria Ltd. - Sofia, which is engaged in the import and trade of spare car parts is also involved in the transaction. Its capital is wholly owned by Auto Kelly A.S., Czech Republic. Upon completion of all planned transfers of company shares, Auto Kelly will own Elite Car, which will own 100% of the capital of Auto Kelly Bulgaria as well as 70% of the capital of Elite Car Group Ltd., 50% of the capital of Elite Car Dobrich Ltd and 50% of the capital of Nexus Bulgaria Ltd.

Real Estate Developments, a wholly-owned unit of the Netherlands-based Dynamic Group, will invest over EUR 80 million in the construction of a new residential compound in Bulgaria's capital Sofia. The estimated investment in the River Park project situated at the foot of the Vitosha mountain does not include the price of the land. Works on the River Park project, including the demolition of unfinished buildings located on the site of the future residential complex, started last month and are planned to continue until the end of the year. The project envisages the construction of 352 residential buildings of different types.

Bulgaria's Bulgartransgaz will complete the construction of an 11-km gas pipeline starting from the Turkish border, which will serve as part of the extension of Gazprom's TurkStream pipeline toward Serbia. The new pipeline will connect to 140 km of existing infrastructure, while the construction of a further 308 km is expected to be completed next year. Earlier this week, Bulgaria's state-owned gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz signed a EUR 1.1 billion contract with Saudi-led consortium Arkad for the construction of a gas pipeline from the country's border with Turkey to the border with Serbia. In the first stage, 308 km of the pipeline's length will be built, from Polski Senovets compressor station westward to the border with Serbia, within a 250-day period. In the second stage, the contractor will build the remaining 166 km, from Polski Senovets to the village of Zlatina in eastern Bulgaria. The offshore section of the TurkStream pipeline stretching 930 km across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey consists of two parallel strings with annual throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres of gas each. One string is intended for consumers in Turkey, while the second will carry gas to customers in Europe through Bulgaria.

Bulgarian diversified group Stara Planina Hold expects its consolidated sales revenue to fall by an annual 5.16% to BGN 173 million in the first nine months of 2019. Stara Planina Hold booked sales of BGN 155.5 million in the January-August period of 2019, down 5.19% year-on-year, and expects to generate a further BGN 17.5 million in September. The holding company's consolidated gross profit amounted to some BGN 14.7 million in the first eight months of 2019. Stara Planina Hold's investment portfolio includes companies from the sectors of machine building, electrical engineering and perfumery and cosmetics.

Hundreds of thousands of vacationers were in limbo around the globe Monday after British travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed, prompting the largest peacetime repatriation effort in the United Kingdom's history. The company went out of business after it failed to secure a rescue package from its lenders, Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser said early Monday. The U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that Thomas Cook — the world's oldest travel company — had closed its doors, and that the regulator and the government were mobilizing a fleet of aircraft from around the world to bring home more than 150,000 British customers currently abroad. According to Reuters, Thomas Cook currently has 600,000 clients abroad, including the British citizens.

The U.S. is temporarily exempting more than 400 types of Chinese products from tariffs that President Donald Trump's administration imposed last year, CNBC has confirmed. That's according to three documents that were published on Friday by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The news was first reported by Politico. The exclusions include things like Christmas tree lights, plastic straws, dog leashes and printed circuit boards, for a total of 437 types of products. They are part of the $250 billion worth of Chinese goods that the U.S. hit with tariffs last year. It was not immediately clear how large a portion of the overall tariffs is covered by the exclusions. The exemptions stem from more than 1,100 exclusion requests made by companies and other entities in the United States, according to the documents. The world's two largest economies have been locked in an escalating trade dispute for more than a year, in which both sides have levied tariffs on the other's goods. The release of the exemptions comes as mid-level U.S. and Chinese government officials meet in Washington in preparation for high-level talks expected in October.

Japan’s core consumer inflation slowed to a new two-year low in August due to lower oil costs and feeble economic growth, data showed, adding to the central bank’s growing challenges in achieving its elusive 2% price target. The data will keep the Bank of Japan, which left monetary policy steady on Thursday, under pressure to ramp up an already massive stimulus programme to fend off risks that could delay it from achieving its price goal. The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, rose 0.5% in August from a year earlier, matching a median market forecast and slowing from a 0.6% gain in July. It was the slowest pace of increase since July 2017, when the index rose 0.5%. While one-off factors such as falling energy costs and cuts in cellphone charges were largely behind the slowdown, inflation was also getting little support from domestic demand.