Economic growth

Even though 2016 was anticipated as an economically bad year, "if the government reaches an agreement with China's HBIS Group, GDP growth will exceed 2.5 pct."

This is what Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday, adding it would "skyrocket to over four percent in 2017."

Bulgaria's construction production index for November 2015 increased by 0.4% month-on-month but was 0.5% lower compared with November 2014, the country's statistical office NSI announced on Friday.

The World Bank has increased its forecast for Bulgaria's economic growth in 2106 by 0.2 percentage points to 2.2%.

The World Bank has praised Turkey's economic growth performance in 2015 and kept its forecasts for 2016 and 2017 the same in its latest forecast, which was published on Jan. 6. 

Rating agency Standard&Poor's has affirmed Bulgaria's long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings to BB+/Bm respectively.

In a statement, it has noted the country's financial sector continues to face important challenges, but has also pointed to the "efforts... to mitigate risks, including an asset quality review slated for 2016".

The economic confidence index jumped 26.7 points in November to 104.99 compared to the previous month after sharp drops, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K) said on Nov. 27.

China's economy logged its worst performance since the global financial crisis on Oct. 19 with analysts warning it is likely to worsen and the government needs to do more to avert a sharp slowdown.

Turkey may be one of the best countries to dig into one of the oldest dilemmas of economics: Does the country need to reach higher economic growth rates or maintain more sustainable development rates? 

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said the world economy is recovering but fragile mainly due to lower productivity rates in a business conference on the sidelines of the G-20 finance ministers' meeting in the Turkish capital city of Ankara. 

It is very sad to see the world economy return to the same tough conditions it saw during the time of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy seven years ago, Koç Holding board member and B-20 Employment Task head Ali Koç has said.