Economy

Over half a million BGN pensions are "suspended". According to the National Social Security Institute, the pensions of 4794 pensioners for over BGN 620 thousand were closed due to unpaid electricity, water, and heating bills, debts to tax or banks, NOVA reported.

Pensions are the highest in Sofia, with Pernik second in terms of senior debtors. The debtors in Plovdiv follow.

In its latest report on Greece, credit rating agency Moody's says that the country's low birthrate, along with low investment and savings, casts a pall of uncertainty over economic growth prospects.
On the positive side, it notes that reforms are being accelerated and that the interest paid on debt servicing is low.

The state's debts to companies and individuals have remained relatively stable since the end of 2018, despite warnings from the country's creditors.
State debts are around 2.2 billion euros and it now appears that state suppliers will not be paid off by the end of the year, as the current government has promised.

Austria's leading telecom A1, which owns the mobile operator of the same name in Bulgaria, has announced that it has allowed its customers to pay with cryptocurrency in a pilot project aimed at testing the popularity of virtual payments, BNR reported.

Customers can pay with bitcoin, litecoins, dash and other cryptocurrencies in certain stores in the country, the company said.

A 12-member committee of civil servants, pension fund managers and professors was appointed on Thursday to propose reforms to Greece's supplementary pension system, a second-tier system that ensures retirees an adequate income.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering what could be the best economic incentives for a possible package of measures, including a reduction in interest rates and a new buyback of bonds, to counteract concerns that growth is slower than expected, Associated Press reported.

The personal data of about 90,000 MasterCard customers in Germany, including credit card numbers, were stolen and posted to an online forum this week, France Press reported. This forced MasterCard to stop Priceless Specials affiliate platform today, according to BTA.

"Having so many investors is a positive sign and shows that this plant is necessary and can be profitable, because when a business applies for something, it knows very well." This was what President Rumen Radev told journalists today in response to a question about the stated investor interest in the construction of Belene NPP, cited by the Presidency press secretariat.

Citibank expects credit rating agency Moody's to keep its rating on Greece's debt steady at B1 while improving its outlook from stable to positive.
Moody's, along with Standard & Poor's, rates Greece's debt four levels below investment grade, while Fitch rates Greece a level above.

Achieving higher growth would be nearly twice as effective when it comes to reducing Greece's debt as relying on very high budget primary surpluses, according to a study released on Thursday by credit rating agency Scope Ratings.