The amounts declared above EUR 10,000 or their equivalent in another currency when crossing the border to and from a non-EU country will no longer be confiscated by the customs authorities. However, their holders will be fined up to one fifth of their value. This is foreseen by changes in the Foreign Exchange Act proposed by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for public consultation. The amendment to the law is necessary because there is a criminal procedure against Bulgaria by the European Commission, which was imposed in July this year for ineffective and disproportionate sanctions in the Foreign Exchange Act and the Criminal Code, which are in conflict with the European regulation on cash control. At present, individuals can transfer an unlimited amount of cash across the country. However, amounts over EUR 10,000 or their equivalent in BGN or other currencies must be declared. Whoever fails to do so is liable to a fine of between BGN 1000 and 3000 for citizens and BGN 2000 to 6000 for legal entities.

Bulgarian government securities were offered for auction at BGN 69.18 million in total nominal value, the Ministry of Finance announced. The average weighted yield on 20-year government securities (BGN) denominated in government securities fell to 1.39%. The spread over the similar German federal bonds is 170 basis points. The distribution of government securities acquired by investor type is as follows: the largest volume of government securities was acquired by banks - 41.2%, pension and guarantee funds - 34%, followed by insurance companies - 20.2%, and other investors - 4.6%. This is the last part of this year's new debt. In total this year, Bulgaria has loaned funds from domestic markets worth nearly BGN 1 billion. This was envisaged in the State Budget Law for 2019.

Velocity Minerals Ltd. announces that it has entered into a definitive option agreement with Bulgarian partner, Gorubso-Kardzhali JSC, whereby Velocity has been granted the exclusive right to acquire a 70% interest in the Sedefche gold deposit located in southeast Bulgaria. Velocity Minerals considers Sedefche to be an advanced-stage gold deposit and the Project has a fully permitted near-surface historical Bulgarian registered gold resource. The deposit remains open for expansion. The Option can be exercised by Velocity completing 5,000 m of drilling on the Project and drilling is expected to commence immediately. Located within trucking distance of Gorubso’s operational gold processing plant the deposit fits well with the company’s hub ‘n’ spoke development model. “Within our hub ‘n’ spoke development model, Sedefche is the fourth project for Velocity and one of three option agreements signed with our partner Gorubso this year,” stated Keith Henderson, Velocity’s President and CEO.

U.S.-headquartered business process outsourcing (BPO) company Sutherland Global Services will open an office in Bulgaria's Plovdiv, creating 300 new jobs in the city. The new employees will work for one of the biggest online stores in the world which has been partnering with Sutherland for the past 15 years globally and for more than 5 years in Bulgaria. The company aims to hire 100 employees by the end of 2019 and to increase its headcount in Bulgaria's second-largest city to 300 by the end of 2020, the Plovdiv municipality quoted the CEO of Sutherland Bulgaria, Dimitar Galabov, as saying in a statement. Sutherland Global Services employs over 2800 people in Bulgaria - in its offices in Sofia, Varna and Burgas.

Astral Holidays, the Bulgarian partner of defunct UK holiday firm Thomas Cook and one of Bulgaria’s largest tour operators, said that it was entering bankruptcy proceedings. Bulgaria’s Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said that she had convened a meeting with the management of Astral Holidays and its insurer. Astral Holidays announced that with great regret and disappointment, it was having to cease operations as of October 7 and enter bankruptcy proceedings, after almost 24 years on the tourist market “in spite of the incredible efforts of management and employees”. The decision had been made after a great deal of discussion, effort and attempts to secure financing for the company, Astral Holidays said. The company had taken all necessary measures and fulfilled its obligations under the Tourism Act to protect its customers. The trips of all clients who had bought holidays from Astral Holidays and who were currently abroad were fully paid “so there is no risk of problems with flights or refusal of accommodation in hotels or other tourist services”.

Headlights manufacturer odelo Bulgaria, a unit of Turkey's Bayraktarlar Group, as well as a joint venture of Germany's Mecalit and China's VEM intend to open production plants at Bulgaria's Trakia Economic Zone by the end of the month. The plant of odelo Bulgaria will produce headlights for Mercedes-Benz vehicles, while the other plant will manufacture moulds and dies. In June 2018, Bulgaria's economy ministry said that Odelo Farba Bulgaria has broken ground for a EUR 40.6 million plant which will manufacture headlights for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Subsequently, the company opened a research and development centre in Sofia. Mecalit already has a plant in Bulgaria, near Trakia Economic Zone, in southern Bulgaria, which manufactures plastic products for the automotive industry.

Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma said that its sales revenue increased 2% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2019 on the back of increased sales on the international market. Sopharma's domestic sales fell 9% year-on-year in january-September, while sales abroad rose 10%. In September alone, sales rose by 31%. Exports were 66% higher on the year, while domestic sales dropped by 5%. The company did not disclose information about the volumes of its sales revenue.

HSBC Holdings Plc may eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive, according to a Financial Times report that signaled Europe may bear the brunt of the initiative. The bank, one of several European lenders shrinking its workforce, is questioning why it has so many people in the region when it has double-digit returns in parts of Asia, one person briefed on the matter told the newspaper. The cuts, which would affect about 4% of the global workforce of about 238,000, come as HSBC interim Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn ramps up an aggressive cost-cutting strategy started under his predecessor. John Flint, who abruptly departed in August after 18 months leading the bank, failed to radically cut expenses. “HSBC has a structural profitability challenge in the Americas and Europe and headcount reduction may be appropriate,” said analysts at Citigroup Inc., highlighting Quinn’s sharper focus on profitability. The job cuts -- on top of 4,700 redundancies flagged earlier -- could be unveiled when HSBC reports its third-quarter results later this month.

Payments firm PayPal has become the first company to pull out of an alliance that is trying to launch Facebook's digital currency Libra. PayPal made the announcement in a statement on Friday, but did not specify what had prompted the decision. Libra, and its digital wallet Calibra, were revealed by Facebook in June. But the cryptocurrency has been criticised by regulators, and both France and Germany have pledged to block it from Europe. PayPal said it "[remained] supportive of Libra's aspirations" but had chosen to focus on its own core businesses. The firm was one of the original members of the Libra Association, a group of 28 companies and non-profits helping to develop Libra. Its other members include payments company Visa, ride-hailing app Uber and humanitarian charity Mercy Corps. In response to PayPal's withdrawal, Libra Association said it was aware that attempts to "reconfigure the financial system" would be hard. At its unveiling this year, Facebook said people would be able to make payments with the currency via its own apps, as well as on messaging service WhatsApp.

China Development Bank (CDB), a development financial institution, has issued 142.9 billion yuan ($20 billion) of loans to support poverty relief efforts in the first eight months of this year. The bank's total outstanding loans for poverty alleviation reached 1.17 trillion yuan by the end of August. It plans to issue loans worth 300 billion yuan for targeted poverty relief this year. Founded in 1994, the CDB is designed to provide finance to major national projects and development strategies. It has stepped up support for the country's battle against poverty, which is one of the "three tough battles" that the country must win to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. By the end of the second quarter of 2019, the outstanding loans for poverty alleviation of development and policy banks accounted for more than half of total poverty relief loans in the whole banking sector, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.