News - Archive

15
May. 2008 Sofia Mayor Opens Waste Recycling Plant The Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov participated Thursday in the opening of the new waste recycling plant located in the Filipovtsi Quarter of Buglaria's capital.

The plant is owned by the national company processing collecting and processing wastes ECOBULPACK which has invested over BGN 10 M in its construction.

About 200 new workers will be employed in the new factory, which was completed in ten months.

The plant has two installations - one for the sorting out and recycling of glass, and another one for the sorting and baling of paper and plastic.
13
May. 2008 Bulgaria tourist center opens in Madrid The Tourism Investors Union opened the first Bulgarian Tourist Information Center in Madrid today.

The Center was inaugurated by Sonya Koltuklieva, Chief Secretary of the Union as part of the Week of Europe celebrations held in the capital of Spain.

The Center's main office is located at 97 "Passeo de Habana" street and has two other offices in Madrid. The center's official website is listed as www.oficinadeturismobulgaro.org.

The Center will be the only place in Spain and Portugal where interested individuals will be able to receive tourist information about Bulgaria and make vacation and trip reservations.

The offers for the summer season 2008 are expected to be EUR 200 lower than the ones currently advertised by Spanish tour operators.

Offers for Bulgarians wishing to visit Spain and Portugal such as EUR 170 for a week vacation in Lisbon in a four star hotel, including travel expenses are also very attractive.

The Tourism Investors Union has the ambition to turn the Center into the most powerful tour operator for reservation from Spain and Portugal to Bulgaria and vice-versa.

The future plans include low cost flights from Spain to the airports in Ruse and Plovdiv as soon as the safeguard clause for the private Bulgarian airlines, imposed by the EC is lifted. The lifting of the clause is expected for October, after the results from the auditors' report are revealed.

The airline company Business Air, owned by the Tourism Investors Union's Chairman Vetko Arbadjiev is slated to execute flight for wealthy tourists from Spain and Portugal to Bulgaria.

The Center's inauguration is part of the massive advertising campaign of the Tourism Investors Union in Spain during the Week of Europe. The goal of the campaign is to showcase Bulgaria as an attractive tourist destination.
12
May. 2008 Greek property invasion Over the past two years, Greece has staged a “real onslaught” onto the Bulgarian and other Balkan markets, Greek business newspaper Imerisia reported on May 7.

Greek construction companies, mainly from the northern part of the country, have been building large residential, office and retail developments in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and, recently, Macedonia.

At the same time, hundreds of individual investors have been buying homes, which they either rent or use for recreation. Despite the recent spike in Bulgaria, Greek buyers still believe local property prices to be affordable, Imerisia said.

07
May. 2008 Israeli Company Funds Business Park in Bulgaria’s Varna with EUR 59 M The Israeli company Africa Israel Investments (AFI) is going to fund the construction of the Business Park in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna.

AFI’s subsidiary AFI Europe signed Sunday an agreement with Investcreditbank to provide EUR 59 M for the project.

The Varna Business Park, which is located close to the Varna Airport and to the Black Sea coast, and includes 35 000 square meters of office space plus another 15 000 square meters that are currently undergoing reconstruction.

Only the plot where the Business Park is located together with the three existing buildings is worth EUR 76,5 M.

The first building of the Varna Business Park was opened in July, 2006.

AIF is an Israeli holding company owned by the billionaire Lev Levaev, whose wealth is estimated at USD 6,5 B, and who currently lives in London.

AIF Europe has 32 projects in eight European countries.

06
May. 2008 Credit growth to continue Bulgarian banks continued to boost loan portfolios, though at a slower pace, a survey of the Agency for Economic Analysis and Forecast at the Bulgarian Finance Ministry, carried out among Bulgaria’s commercial banks, showed on May 6.

Banks’ intensive loan activity is mainly driven by available liquidity in the banking system, the desire to retain market share and the favourable macroeconomic environment, according to the report.

The policies of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) aimed at slowing down credit growth were no longer a decisive factor for the bulk of commercial banks, according to the report. This is largely due to the lack of signs that the central bank would resort to the introduction of new restrictions.

Demand for loans in the first quarter of 2008 was generated by the same factors as a year ago. Namely, 90.9 per cent of all banks point to operating funds as the main reason for the search of bank loans.

Furthermore, the minimum mandatory reserves and the more expensive financing on international financial markets has encouraged banks to start attracting resources through deposits.

According to commercial banks, euro-denominated loans and deposits in the household segment will grow at a faster pace compared to expectations. In the meantime, the competition that banks experience from non-banking institutions, leasing companies excluded, would decrease.

01
May. 2008 City Centre Sofia for sale Investment fund Equest Balkan Properties plc (EBP) was considering the sale of the first shopping mall in Bulgaria, City Centre Sofia, Investor.bg quoted Naomi Kora, relations manager for the fund’s investors, on May 1 2008.

Furthermore EBP was also considering the sale of Serdika Forum, former Serdika hotel in downtown Sofia at Vassil Levski monument, and another project in Belgrade.

According to Investor.bg EBP was going to use the evaluation done by CBRE consultancy company, which evaluated EBP’s portfolio of 28 real estates in Bulgaria at 152 million euro.
30
Apr. 2008 House price increases in Bulgaria highest for Europe Second world-wide According to data published by Globalpropertyguide.com, house price increases in Europe over the past year ending in Q4 of 2007, were highest in Bulgaria. Bulgarian houses increased by 34.61 per cent, closely followed by Poland with a 33 per cent increase.

House prices in Estonia increased by 23.38 per cent. Prices in Sweden, Lithuania, Cyprus and Estonia increased by between 11 and 19 per cent. Increases in other European countries were in the single digit range, with Portugal, Latvia and Ireland reporting house price decreases.

According to investor.bg, only Shanghai reported a higher house price increase, at 35.4 per cent.

For the full article, see propertywisebulgaria.com
24
Apr. 2008 EASTER IN BULGARIA As the Bulgarian name implies Velikden (Great Day), Easter is one of the most significant holidays in the Bulgarian calendar. Best Bulgarian Estates Ltd. would like to inform you that our office will be not working on 28th April (Monday).

If some of you want to arrange an appointment or a viewing trip with us please call us in advance.


23
Apr. 2008 Bulgaria Winter Resorts with One Fourth More Foreign Tourists in 2008 The number of foreign tourists who visited the Bulgarian winter resorts in January and February of 2008 has gone up 23,4% compared to the same months of 2007.

Bulgaria's total revenue from tourism in these months was EUR 97,8 M, which is 19% more than in the same period of 2007.

The news was announced by the Chair of the Bulgarian State Agency for Tourism Aneliya Krushkova on Wednesday. Krushkova presented data from a poll about the winter vacation in Bulgaria.

The poll results show that 78% of all foreign tourists, who visit Bulgaria, were ready to recommend it as a tourist destination.

Many of them, however, pointed out they wished that the Bulgarian winter resorts were quieter and more peaceful, and that the staff improved their English, and were more hospitable.

The number of Serbian and Macedonian tourists visiting Bulgaria in the winter continues to decrease. 20
Apr. 2008 Bulgaria - the cheapest holiday destination in Europe Bulgaria is the cheapest holiday destination in Europe, a new study shows, as cited by the Independent.
UK company Post Office carried out the research to compare relative prices across the world, as the British pound has recently got much weaker against other currencies.
In the study Bulgaria is flagged up as highly affordable location and is said to be the cheapest destination in the whole of Europe, just ahead of Turkey.
The results come out after a recent similar research by Teletext Holidays found the cost of food and drink in places such as Sofia is much less than in many other European cities.
A pint of beer and a Big Mac costs just GBP 1.49 in Bulgaria, making it the world's best value holiday hotspot for Brits, the survey claimed.