Bulgarian National Bank

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov has suggested that a decision on appointing a new Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) should be in place by end-April.

Bulgaria's gross external debt amounted to EUR 39,040.6 million (91.5% of GDP) in end-January 2015, decreasing by EUR 724.5 million (1.8%) from end-2014 (EUR 39,765.1 million, 94.7% of GDP).

At the end of February 2015, deposits of the non-government sector stood at BGN 58.984 billion (70.7% of GDP), increasing annually by 2.5% (2.4% annual growth in January 2015), according to the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

The IMF called for better banking supervision in Bulgaria in the concluding statement of its mission to the country, which was released on Friday.

The IMF notes that the collapse of Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) and the deterioration in the fiscal balance tested the country's macroeconomic and financial stability.

Bulgarian economist Iva Petrova will head the IMF technical team to Athens and will participate in the negotiations with the Greek government on behalf of the IMF.

This was confirmed by both IMF spokesman Gerry Rice and Elena Panaritis, who is adviser to Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, private bTV station reports.

Bulgarian National Assembly has created a temporary commission to review the facts and circumstances around the actions of government institutions that had to impose control over the leak of funds in the Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) in the period 2009-2014.

Bulgaria's gross external debt amounted to EUR 39,558.2 million (94.3% of GDP) in end-December 2014, up by EUR 2,634 million (7.1%) from end-2013 (EUR 36,924.2 million, 90% of GDP), according to data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

In the first month of 2015, no significant changes occurred in the balance sheet structure of credit institutions in Bulgaria, according to data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

Compared to December 2014, the assets of the banking system increased by BGN 1 billion (1.2%).

Cash decreased by BGN 38 million (0.4%).

According to preliminary data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), foreign direct investment in Bulgaria recorded a net inflow of EUR 1.1816 B (2.8% of GDP) in January - December 2014, dropping by EUR 93.5 M (7.3%) from January - December 2013 (an inflow of EUR 1,275.1 M, 3.1% of GDP).

In December 2014 FDI grew by EUR 119.6 M, compared with an outflow of EUR 270 M in December 2013.

Ivan Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has submitted to Parliament a proposal for the appointment of Dimitar Kostov as head of the Bank Supervision unit of BNB.

The proposal was tabled at around 4 pm on Thursday, according to the press office of BNB, as cited by Darik radio.
Kostov is currently member of the Managing Board of BNB and heads its Banking unit.