BGN

Bulgaria will raise minimum wage in 2016 and in 2017, but will freeze it the year after, according to a medium-term budget forecast of Bulgaria's government approved on Wednesday.

The government estimates that next year the national minimum wage will increase by BGN 60 (EUR 30) to BGN 420 (EUR 210), up from BGN 360 (EUR 180) as of the moment (April 22, 2014).

Bulgaria had the EU's third-lowest debt and a 2.8% budget deficit in end-2014 but quality of data the country is sending is met with reservations, according to the bloc's statistical body Eurostat.

It points that Bulgaria's debt was 27.6% of GDP at the time (with only Estonia, 10.6%, and Luxembourg, 23.6%, having a more positive indicator).

Labor and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Kalfin has proposed Criminal Code amendments targeting employers who do not sign contracts with workers.

Under changes put forward by Kalfin, an employee in Bulgaria could be facing imprisonment if a worker the latter dies in a work-related accident and an inspection establishes he or she has not signed a labor contract.

The average price of agricultural land in Bulgaria rose 15.2% last year, reaching BGN 684 (EUR 342) per 1,000 square metres, the statistics office announced on Tuesday.

Rental prices per 1,000 sq m of agricultural land also rose, reaching BGN 41 (EUR 20.5) on average, an increase of 7.9% compared to 2013.

Czech company Korado Group will invest BGN 4 M in a new production line which will expand the product range of Korado Bulgaria AD.

Thanks to the new equipment, the plant based in the northern Bulgarian town of Strazhitsa will start producing a new item, bathroom radiators.

Bulgaria's National Electric Company (NEK) has signed agreements with US-owned thermal power plants AES Maritza East 1 and ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 TPP under which it will pay BGN 1 B less to the TPPs over the next 10 years.

The liberalization of the cargo transport market in Bulgaria happened at an inopportune time and obstructed the privatization of the freight unit of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company, according to Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski.

The Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) adopted at its regular general assembly on Tuesday its budget for 2015, which amounts to BGN 3.45 M.

A quick comparison shows that BOC increased its budget with BGN 400 000 compared to last year, daily Dnevnik reports.

The revenues in Bulgaria's banking system have registered an impressive increase of 31.6% for the first two months of 2015 as compared to the same period of 2014.

Thus the total revenues have reached BGN 196 M, as reported by the monitoring data provided by the Bulgarian National Bank, Kapital daily reported.

German corporation REWE Group, represented in Bulgaria by two popular supermarket chains BILLA and PENNY Market is allegedly in the process of selling their locations across Bulgaria.

According to unconfirmed information reported by Kapital daily, the procedures have already been launched and the results will be visible in less than two months.