Economy of Europe

The Turkish lira firmed on Thursday afternoon after US President Donald Trump said the United States is not currently looking at sanctioning Turkey over its purchase of Russian air defence systems. 

The French-German consortium "Sof Connect", which operates Munich Airport, has been selected as the winner of the concession tender for Sofia Airport, Bulgaria's Transport Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov said on July 17. The contract can be signed after the expiry of the 15-day period in which the remaining four candidates have the right to appeal, reports BNT. 

The second half of Wednesday's bourse session in Athens saw the return of buyers, who focused on certain blue chips like banks and oversold Public Power Corporation, but also Lamda Development and Mytilineos, on the back of important corporate developments.

It is evident from a series of public statements that the new government is viewed positively by the representatives of Greece's creditors and European partners as they expect better cooperation and more steadfast reform policies.

Nevertheless, the first positive signals do mean that creditors are prepared to change the basic targets of economic policy.

The Greek stock market was no exception to the rule in most eurozone bourses on Monday, where investor skittishness resulted in moderate losses and low trading volumes. Local traders may also be waiting for today to position themselves in the new seven-year Greek bond.

The board says: "On july 15, 2019, President of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Aleksandar Vucic and President of the Republic of France, H.E. Emmanuel Macron marked the official start of work on modernization of Belgrade Airport 'Nikola Tesla', carried out by the company "VINCI Airports".

As the International Monetary Fund prepares to choose a new managing director to replace Christine Lagarde, who is to leave the post in the coming months, CNBC has reported that former Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is among the candidates in the running for the job.

Bulgaria has fulfilled practically all commitments undertaken a year ago to enter ERM II, also known as the Eurozone waiting room. This is understood by information on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

Despite a decline among banks, the vast majority of stocks ended up on the winning side on Thursday, with the benchmark advancing for a second day in a row, albeit marginally this time.

The European Commission (EC) keeps its expectations for Bulgaria's economy in its summer forecast. The GDP growth of our country in 2019 will recover to 3.3% from 3.1% in 2018, reaching 3.4% in 2020, coinciding with the expectations of the spring forecast.

In terms of inflation, the EC expects its pace to reach 2.4% in 2019 and will slow to 1.7% in 2020, writes Investor.bg.