Standard & Poor's (S&P) said it has raised its long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Bulgaria to 'BBB/A-2' from 'BBB-/A-3' with positive outlook. S&P also raised its transfer and convertibility assessment to 'A' from 'A-', it said in a statement on Friday. The positive outlook is based on the ratings agency's view that Bulgaria is expected to continue to progressively strengthen its fiscal and external position, as the country grows resiliently in a weaker external economy. Bulgaria's government debt is low, and the agency expects government debt net of liquid assets to decrease to below 10% of GDP by 2022 from 12% in 2019. The government is also expected to retain its sizable liquid assets over the coming years to provide buffers for upcoming bond maturities after 2021. The low debt burden grants the country fiscal space to respond to external and domestic shocks and the materialization of contingent risks, should they arise.

Unemployment in Bulgaria remains at a stable low level and according to Eurostat data for October it is at the level of 4.2%. This is a slight increase from the previous month, when it was 4.1%. However, the unemployment rate in Bulgaria remains well below the EU average. As of October, statistics show that unemployment in the union remained unchanged from September at 6.3 percent, taking into account seasonal factors, and slightly decreased from the 6.7 percent in October 2018. This is the lowest value reported in the EU since the release of monthly Community statistics in January 2000. In the euro area, the indicator fell to 7.5 percent last month from 7.6 percent in September and 8 percent in October a year ago. In October, the EU 28 member states’ unemployed were 15.583 million, of which 12.334 million were in the euro area. Compared to September, the number decreased by 29,000 and 31,000, respectively, and compared to October 2018 - by 939,000 and 761,000, respectively.

The information and telecommunications market in Bulgaria has attracted a new large strategic investor. One of Europe's leading wholesaler companies, ALSO Holding AG, Switzerland, has been approved by the CPC to acquire 100% of Solitron Bulgaria's capital, which is one of the largest wholesale IT distributors in the country with a wide range of ICT products. Solitron's products and services are used in various sectors and industries - financial sector, communications, transport and logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, etc. According to the CPC's analysis, this transaction would not have the potential to produce anti-competitive effects in the affected markets and would not lead to the establishment or strengthening of a dominant position. ALSO and Solitron do not control subsidiaries, branches or sales offices in Bulgaria. According to a survey of ICT Media (a leading publisher in the field of information and communication technologies in Bulgaria, which annually ranks ICT companies in its specialized survey ‘Top 100 technology companies’), the ICT market and telecom services grew to BGN 5.63 billion in 2018 (compared to BGN 4.50 billion in 2017). Revenues from IT activities, including IT outsourcing, amount to over BGN 3 billion, which according to the edition is 45 percent more than in 2017.

The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has approved the prospectus for listing of the Telelink Business Services IT company on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The company has stated its desire to list "up to 30% of the existing shares" on the Bulgarian stock exchange in July, when the plan was to make its debut in November. The CEO of Telelink Business Services, Ivan Zhitianov, commented that the new plan is for the company to appear on the BSE "early next year". Telelink Business Services is one of the four Telelink Bulgaria units. The company offers solutions in terms of IT infrastructure, information security, digital transformation, big data and more. In July Lyubomir Minchev, the majority owner of Telelink Business Services, said that up to 30% of the already existing shares will appear on the stock exchange, without new ones being issued. The technical listing is for all 12.5 million shares, but only 30% of them will be traded. They are with a nominal value of BGN 1. Although most of the share would be owned by Minchev, who holds 88% of the total number of shares, there will be no change in ownership.

Sofiyska voda JSC is building a new methane tank at the Kubratovo wastewater treatment plant. It will significantly increase the production of green energy from Sofia wastewater. With the new facility, the methane tanks at the Sofia treatment plant will bring the number to a total of 5. The new methane tank will have the same capacity as the other four - 7000 cubic meters. After its commissioning, the station's capacity is expected to increase by another 25%. The facility will guarantee constant biogas, even when repairing and preventing any of the old methane tanks. Cylindrical facilities play a key role in the production of methane. With the completion of this closed production cycle, the Sofia wastewater treatment plant has ranked among the top five in the world by more than 3000 in the Veolia group and is a convincing working example of a circular economy. The new methane tank is designed and built according to the latest technologies.

Bulgarian businesses see access to finance as the least important issue among the challenges business faces. 30% have pointed out the availability of qualified staff and experienced managers as the biggest obstacle to their activity. The second biggest challenge was finding customers, as indicated by 23% of the enterprises. This shows the latest Business Access to Finance (SAFE) survey, which approached companies in Bulgaria and other EU countries with the question: Which of the six potential problems was the most important, which business faces? The survey was conducted on behalf of the European Central Bank and the European Commission. It is published on the ECB's website and is calculated by the Panteia/GDCC. The survey finds that 16% of Bulgarian companies that believe bank financing is relevant to them have actually applied for a loan. 49% did not apply because they had sufficient internal funding.

Bulgarian IoT products developer Allterco said that its consolidated net profit excluding minority interest soared to BGN 6.3 million in the first nine months of 2019 from BGN 542,000 in the same period of 2018. Allterco's operating revenue edged up to BGN 31.4 million in the January-September period of 2019 from BGN 29.5 million in the comparable period of 2018. The company's operating expenses fell to BGN 24.3 million in the review period from BGN 28.6 million the year before, as expenses for hired services dropped to BGN 8.3 million from BGN 20.9 million in the prior-year period. In July, Allterco completed the sale of five of its telecommunications subsidiaries to Norway's LINK Mobility Group for BGN 7.9 million. Allterco received 60% of the price in cash and a further 20% is shares in Victory Partners VIII Norway Holding - the sole owner of LINK Mobility Group. The remaining 20% will be paid on a deferred basis within two years.

In a minimalist office in downtown Paris, Emmanuel Macron’s aides have spent months calculating which of their boss’s ideas are going to upset his allies the most. Beneath retro election posters on bare white walls, the advisers run the numbers on what will enrage the Germans most, what can be done most cheaply, and what will grab him most attention, according to a person familiar with the work. The model includes analysis of the impact of stopping new countries joining the EU, restricting rights to passport-free travel and cooperation on defense. Add in a provocative warning about the failings of NATO and out comes phase two of Macron’s plan to remake the European Union. Two and a half years after demolishing the French establishment to sweep into the Elysee Palace, the 41-year-old president is seeking to cement his position as the EU’s pre-eminent leader. Frustrated in his efforts to coax German Chancellor Angela Merkel into action, he’s striking out alone and part of the grand plan is to break things along the way.

President Trump said on Monday that he would reinstate tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, accusing the two countries of artificially weakening their currencies and hurting American farmers. Mr. Trump, in a message on Twitter, said the currency manipulation by Brazil and Argentina was hurting American farmers. “There, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries.” The Trump administration initially exempted Brazil and Argentina from the president’s sweeping metal tariffs in 2018, after the United States said it had reached trade deals with those countries. It is unclear exactly what prompted Mr. Trump’s message. But last week the Brazilian currency, the real, fell to a record low against the dollar after the country’s economic minister signaled that he was not concerned about exchange-rate fluctuations. Argentina’s peso has weakened as the country has been in the midst of an economic crisis. But both Argentina and Brazil have benefited from the president’s trade war with China, which has hurt American exports of soybeans and other products.

Huawei’s latest phone, which it unveiled in September — the Mate 30 with a curved display, telephone and wide-angle cameras that competes with Apple Inc.’s AAPL, -0.22% iPhone 11 contained no U.S. parts, according to an analysis by UBS and Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a Japanese technology lab that took the device apart to inspect its insides. In May, the Trump administration banned U.S. shipments to Huawei as trade tensions with Beijing escalated. That move stopped companies like Qualcomm Inc. QCOM, -1.47% and Intel Corp. INTC, -0.79% from exporting chips to the company, though some shipments of parts resumed over the summer after companies determined they weren’t affected by the ban. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose department oversees export licenses, last month said U.S. chip makers were being granted licenses to resume some other deliveries. The department has received nearly 300 license applications, he said.