The International Monetary Fund is not pressing good policies on countries infinancial crisis, such as Greece and Spain, according to Bulgarian Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov. “Regarding the crisis in Europe now, the IMF is part of the problem, not part of the solution, at least for now,” said Djankov in an interview for Darik Radio Saturday. When [...]
Three Bulgarian majors are planning to float on Romania‘s stock exchange as the bourses in the two countries are due to sign an agreement on the exchange of stock market trading data. The agreement, part of efforts to make the two bourses more attractive to foreign partners, is to be signed by the end of the month, Vassil [...]
Bulgarian bankers are seeing an unprecedented rush of clients, who want to pay off their loans in advance, prompted by uncertainty about their job and incomes in the coming months. “People and companies, who have had a good credit history, do not hesitate to tighten their belts further in order to pay off their mortgage [...]
Bulgarian bad and restructured loans rose to the record high 23,35% of total lending at the end of March, amounting to BGN 9.7 B, shows central bank data, leaked to the media. The bad and restructured loans increased by 4.25% on a monthly and 27.3% on an annual basis. In absolute terms the monthly increase is BGN 394 M, [...]
Bulgaria‘s economic growth is expected to slow-down to 1.2% in 2012 in the wake of the continued crisis in the eurozone and stagnant domestic demand, according to Citigroup analysts. GDP growth next year is forecast at 2.5%. Interestingly the financial institution warns that the next general elections, due in the middle of 2013, may undermine the implementation of key structural reforms in the coutry. Earlier this month Bulgarian analysts [...]
Bulgaria had EU‘s second lowest debt-to-GDP ratio among the EU 27 in 2011 – 16.3%, according to data released by Eurostat. The lowest ratio of government debt to GDP was recorded in Estonia (6.0%). Bulgaria is followed by uxembourg (18.2%), Romania (33.3%), Sweden (38.4%), Lithuania (38.5%), the Czech Republic (41.2%), Latvia (42.6%), Slovakia (43.3%) and Denmark (46.5%). Fourteen Member States had [...]
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it has provided a EUR 5 M loan to DSK Bank to support energy efficiency improvements inBulgaria‘s residential sector. The loan is part of EBRD‘s Residential Energy Efficiency Credit Line (REECL) Framework aimed at addressing energy wastage in Bulgaria‘s residential sector. DSK Bank, wholly-owned by the Hungarian OTP Bank and the second largest bank [...]
Bulgaria‘s banking industry is stable even though it ranks third in the European Union in terms of bad loans, IMF data shows. Bad loans in Bulgaria spiked up to 14.9% at the end of 2011 from a year ago, totaling BGN 8.365 B, according to the Washington-based lender, which confirms data by the central bank in Sofia released earlier this month. This puts [...]
Bulgarians’ monthly allowance has increased by 2% for the period January-March 2012 and by 3.6% on an annual basis. The monthly allowance per person in a four-member household is BGN 547.40 and the whole family needs BGN 2189.60, according to Lyuben Tomev, Director of the Institute for Trade Union and Social Research at the Confederation of Independent [...]
The European Parliament have backed a plan to introduce a compulsory pan-EU business tax system, a move that will likely be greeted with concern in Bulgaria. The European Commission had proposed a voluntary scheme. “This harmonized system for calculating the tax base makes it possible for companies to consolidate the results of their individual branches, which allows them to compensate for any losses [...]
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