The head of the International Monetary Fund mission for Bulgaria, Bas Bakker, said that Bulgaria’s economy might go into recession.

The head of the International Monetary Fund mission for Bulgaria, Bas Bakker, said that Bulgaria’s economy might go into recession. Bakker’s latest statement runs counter to the last IMF report on Bulgaria in February 2009, in which the Fund predicted that the Bulgarian economy would grow by 1% in 2009. “If we look at other countries in the region, many of them are falling into recession. The decline in Western Europe is much steeper than expected. Yesterday’s figures showed the January industrial production in the Eurozone declined by 17%, which is obviously hurting Bulgaria. At the same time, the inflow of capital is dropping unexpectedly quickly, so it is definitely possible that the Bulgarian economy might shrink this year”, Bakker declared.
Source: Darik radio
Bad loans in Bulgaria have risen by BGN 159.5 million in January 2009, showed data of the central bank. Bad and restructured loans topped BGN 1.34 billion, up 13.5% from December. The increase was BGN 10.746 million, or 1.5 month-on-month, in the same period of 2008. In December, bad loans increased 9.6% from November. The figures could be the first sign of the expected surge in bad loans. Bankers warned at the end of last year that loan portfolios might deteriorate. They noted, however, that it is normal that bad loans would grow faster against the backdrop of a slowing credit in the recent months. In end-January, bad and restructured loans made up 2.8% of banks’ portfolios versus 1.97% in the same month of 2008.
Source: Dnevnik
Minister of Economy and Energy Petar Dimitrov said the government was searching for alternative sources of financing for the construction of Bulgaria’s second nuclear power plant in Belene (on the Danube.) According to initial plans, Germany’s energy giant RWE, which won the tender for constructor, was supposed to start pouring money into the project as soon as the joint venture with Bulgaria’s National Electric Company was founded. But it appears that the Germans have altered their conception, probably because of the spreading global financial crisis. They now say they would start financing the project only after it is completely structured, so the Bulgarian government has started seeking alternative sources of financing, including Russia.
Source: Standart
The Board of Directors of SFB Capital Market JSC calls a regular annual shareholders meeting on May 28, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. in Sofia, 16-20 Alabin Str., conference hall on floor 1. The agenda includes reports of the Board on the activities of the company in 2007 and 2008, allocation of the profit from 2007 and 2008, alteration of the company regulation.
Source: Capital Market
PS Tour SPLTD transformed into PS Tour LTD after SFB Capital Market JSC joined the company as partner. PS Tour SPLTD is a company with a lot of experience in Tourism and tour operation services. SFB Capital Market JSC develops and maintains dynamic Internet-based application systems, incl. for access to business information and sales of tourist products. The two companies joined their efforts and created OK-Booking.com, an online tourist service booking system with instant confirmation. OK-Booking.com was developed by a team of PS Tour LTD and allows the customers to make their choice fast and easy among dozens of Bulgarian hotels and receive real time order confirmation.
Source: Capital Market
The decrease of prices is the right direction, but is not sufficient and does not correspond to the European recommendations, the company announces. Therefore, BTC will bring the case to the Consumer Protection Commission, the Bulgarian Euro Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, Vivian Reding, as a Telecommunications Commissioner and the National ombudsman Ginio Ganev. This is about the decision of the Communications Regulation Commission for reduction of the prices of mobile phone calls in July by BGN 0.02. BTC said that such a reduction is insufficient and does not protect enough the interests of Bulgarian consumers.
Source: News.bg
Capitalisation of Bioiasis JSC, the Sofia-based biomaterial products and surgical supplies manufacturer, is BGN 68.8 million. For 2008, its profit was BGN 386,760. On the general meeting on May 2, 2009, the shareholders will decide whether BGN 86,270 to be used to cover losses from previous years and BGN 100,490 to be put in a Reserve fund. Another issue to be discussed is the increase of capital from BGN 200,000 to BGN 400,000 by issuing the same amount of stocks with par value BGN 1 each.
Source: Pari
Gas company Overgas said it will bundle its west Bulgarian distribution units into a single company. The move is aimed at optimising gasification costs and improving end-customer prices, said the gas company, which holds more than 20 distribution permits. Overgas will invest BGN 30 million in building gas grids this year after registering a 9% increase in gas volumes to 278 million cubic metres in 2008, with household consumption rising the highest. The company spent BGN 33 million to build 226 kilometres of gas mains.
Source: Dnevnik
A new Bulgarian-Greek-Russian company will be set up to operate the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline with the aim to participate in the tender for the project’s structural implementation on an equal footing with the rest of the bidders. This is what Stefan Gunchev – chairman of the board of directors of the company that design the project – said in an interview. Establishing such a company would be the main topic of discussion during Transneft (Russia) CEO Nikolay Tokarev’s visit to Bulgaria in the middle of the week. Another major issue would be supplying enough oil to run the project. Construction works will start off in 2010. Up to a third of the funds needed would be provided by the partners. The rest will be loaned.
Source: Standart