The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) presented the results of the traditional online survey with members of the Association on the state of the business environment during the current year, as well as their expectations for the next calendar year. The survey was conducted among 792 business managers. Compared to last year's survey, the business climate is slightly improving, while the self-assessment of the state of the enterprises is characterized by a "weak growth, and stagnation". The pessimism for 2020 stems mainly from the dissatisfaction with the work of the institutions, concerns about price increases, tax and regulatory burdens, as well as the lack of quality workforce. The slowing down in the global growth, the emerging of a new economic crisis and the "greening" of the European Parliament, suggesting a new dose of environmental regulation, are also among the serious concerns. For a consecutive year, one of the key priorities of companies is the workforce, which is a problem in both quantity and quality. The overwhelming majority of employers are willing to invest in staff training and salary increases, but on the basis of satisfactory levels of skills and achieved competencies.

The monthly inflation in November was 0.5%, the National Statistical Institute reported. The inflation rate since the beginning of the year (November 2019 compared to December 2018) was 3.1% and the annual inflation in November 2019 compared to November 2018 was 3.0%. The annual average inflation in the period from December 2018 to November 2019 compared to the previous 12 months was 3.0%. The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) in November 2019 compared to October 2019 was 100.3%, i.e. the monthly inflation was 0.3%. The inflation rate since the beginning of the year (November 2019 compared to December 2018) has been 2.3% and the annual inflation in November 2019 compared to November 2018 was 2.2%.The annual average inflation, measured by HICP, in the last 12 months (December 2018 - November 2019) compared to the previous 12 months was 2.4%.

Concession contracts for the Dolni Dabnik and Gorni Dabnik deposits in the Pleven district will be extended by 15 years each. This was decided by the Council of Ministers at its last meeting, accepting the requested change by the concessionaire - Oil and Gas Exploration and Production JSC. The company motivates its request by the presence of residual reserves in the fields that would be left unused. The concession contracts for the two fields were signed in September 2003 for a period of 17 years between the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, represented by the Minister of Energy and Energy Resources, and Oil and Gas Exploration and Production JSC - Pleven. Oil and Gas Exploration and Production JSC is the only Bulgarian company that performs the full range of activities for prospecting, exploration, development and exploitation of oil and gas fields, as well as the processing of crude oil to final products for the market. Since 2004 it has been part of the Chimimport group through Zarneni Hrani Bulgaria JSC, which holds 6,263,464 shares or 51.22% of the voting shares.

Polish restaurant operator AmRest Holdings has opened a second restaurant under the Burger King brand in Bulgaria and plans to further expand the brand in the country next year. The newly-opened restaurant is located in Paradise Center in Sofia. "In the following five years we will develop very actively the brand in Sofia and in the big cities - Plovdiv, Burgas and Varna," Capital.bg quoted, a country manager at AmRest for the brands of Burger King and KFC in Bulgaria as saying. The company plans to open at least two more Burger King restaurants in Bulgaria in 2020. The investment in the new restaurant follows a master franchise agreement for the opening of new Burger King restaurants in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. The agreement was signed at the beginning of 2019 between AmRest and Burger King Europe.

Kozloduy NPP sold half of its free market electricity next year for BGN 262 million Kozloduy NPP held three new large auctions at the end of last week for electricity, which will be delivered in 2020. The sold over 2.4 million MWh for BGN 262 million represent half of the electricity, which the nuclear power plant will be able to offer on the free market next year. The starting prices set by the NPP, as well as the previous auctions from the last week of November, were in the range of 90-94 BGN per megawatt hour. The average price achieved in the current deals is slightly lower - BGN 108.17 / mWh at 111 BGN / mWh at the end of last month. This, on the one hand, shows that the electricity of the NPP has already reached the traders who offer lower prices, and on the other - it is a signal that the electricity in the free market will be at least 20% more expensive next year compared to 2019.

Stara Planina Hold ended the first half with a slight decline of 2.7%. The expected drop in sales in the second half of the year is about 16% compared to the same period last year. In 2019, the annual sales of the Group companies will reach nearly BGN 222 million. This would result in a decrease of 8.6% compared to last year. With the expected weak fourth quarter, the group's financial performance for 2019 is projected to decline by 19%. This may affect future dividend payments to the parent company. The projected net profit of Stara Planina Hold for this year is to reach BGN 6.4 million. The investments in the whole group of Stara Planina Hold this year reach nearly BGN 18 million. In these circumstances, its companies are planning more than 4% investment growth, which will lead to the introduction of new products, higher productivity and, accordingly, better remuneration of employees. Over 6% of the planned investments are in the field of social activities.

Bulgarian IoT company Allterco Robotics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of telecommunications services provider Allterco, has booked record-high Black Friday sales of EUR 800,000. The company sold 68,000 devices during this year's Black Friday. Most of the sales were made to customers in Germany, Italy and Spain. Allterco Robotics booked some BGN 10.6 million from sales of goods for the full 2018. Earlier this year, Allterco sold its telecommunications subsidiaries to Norway's LINK Mobility Group for EUR 7.9 million, saying it will focus on its IoT business.

An Italian cabinet meeting approved an emergency decree to bail out ailing cooperative lender Banca Popolare di Bari, a government source said. The bank, the biggest lender in Italy’s underdeveloped south, was placed under special administration by the Bank of Italy on Friday after its management said it urgently needed a capital injection of up to 1 billion euros. European Union competition authorities will have no reason to object to Italy’s rescue of ailing cooperative lender Popolare di Bari, the country’s regional affairs minister said on Monday. The Rome government late on Sunday passed an emergency decree setting aside up to 900 million euros ($992 million) to recapitalize ailing Popolare di Bari. Minister Francesco Boccia told Radio 24 the scheme had been devised in a way that would ensure compliance with EU state aid rules. “The measures chosen by (Economy Minister Roberto) Gualtieri allow us to meet all EU rules,” he said, when asked whether Brussels could take aim at the scheme after allowing Germany to rescue lender NordLB earlier this month.

Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for North America, Jesus Seade, attempted to rebut claims his country would be subject to labor enforcement inspectors from other countries as part of the new North American trade deal. Top officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States on Tuesday signed a fresh overhaul of a quarter-century-old deal, but labor provisions were one of the last sticking points in the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). “Mexico will NEVER accept any measure that would see inspectors disguised for a simple reason: Mexican law prohibits it,” Seade wrote in a series of tweets, some of which were later deleted, adding for emphasis in another one: “NO INSPECTORS.” An annex for the implementation of the treaty that was presented in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday proposed the designation of up to five U.S. experts who would monitor compliance with local labor reform in Mexico. This drew swift criticism from Seade, who sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer the same day expressing surprise and concern over the annex. Seade said he would travel to Washington for talks.

Indonesia has taken legal action against the European Union over stricter limits on how palm oil can be used in green fuels, marking a further deepening in trade tensions. The nation filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization on Dec. 9 alleging discrimination against Indonesian palm-oil exports, the trade ministry said Sunday. Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the oil, warned earlier this year it would retaliate after the European Commission restricted the types of biofuels from it that may be counted toward the EU’s renewable-energy goals. “The Indonesian government objected to the elimination of the use of biofuel from palm oil by the EU,” Indonesia’s Director General of Foreign Trade Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana said in a statement. “In addition to having a negative impact on exports of Indonesian palm oil to the EU, it will also create a bad image for oil palm products in global trade.” The EU has said the restrictions were required by a broader law agreed by the 28-nation bloc last year, when the European Parliament pushed for curbs on the use of palm oil on concerns its production caused deforestation and aggravated climate change.