Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Saturday, 31 March 2012

Sofia: min 4°, max 18°
Varna: min 7°, max 17°
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31 March 2012, Issue 288

by Novinite.com

Bulgaria's Online Weekly Newspaper since 2001

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Interview

Father Popov: Senior Bulgarian Orthodox Clergy Are Thugs in Cassocks with Communist Ties

By Maria Guineva

Father Lyubomir Popov is an Orthodox priest in Bulgaria's Black Sea City of Varna. | read |

Sofia Speaking

Bulgaria's Most Influential People

By Maria Guineva

This week, the Bulgarian edition of Forbes Magazine unveiled its first most influential persons list, with the top 10 featuring four officials from the ruling party GERB and six oligarchs. | read |

Sofia Speaking

A Reality Check for Bulgaria's President

By Nikola Petrov

Bulgaria's Presidents have enjoyed high approval ratings most of the time, mainly due to the fact that heads of state in the country have largely, though not entirely, representative and ceremonial functions. | read |

Sofia Speaking

Why Burying Belene Is Good

By Milena Hristova

Some twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster and faced with "the ominous prospect of turning the country into s disco club", Bulgaria's previously ruling Socialist-left coalition set its hopes on an ambitious solution. | read |

Sofia Speaking

Who Profits from (the Skinning of) the Stray Dogs in Bulgaria's Sofia?

By Ivan Dikov

Contrary to what a bunch of politicians, "statesmen", municipal officials, bureaucrats, current PMs and their mayoral successors would have the Bulgarian public believe, the problem with the tens of thousands of stray dogs roaming the streets of Sofia is | read |

Sofia Speaking

It's Raining Resignations in Bulgaria

By Maria Guineva

The latest wave of resignations and reshuffles in Bulgaria started with the notorious bonus dismissals and ended with the sacking of two key cabinet members – of Economy and Energy, Traicho Traikov, and of Health, Stefan Konstantinov. | read |

The Week in Pictures

Bulgaria Quits Belene Nuclear Power Plant Project

Romania Gives Green Light to Chevron Shale Gas Exploration

Stray Dogs nearly Eat Man in Sofia, Mayor Parrots 'Castration' Promises

Forbes Names 4 Politicians, 6 Oligarchs 'Most Influential Bulgarians'

Czech Republic Firmly Backs Bulgaria's Schengen Agreement Bid

Hungarian President Loses Doctorate for 'Bulgarian' Plagiarism

HOT PHOTO

Italy Praises Bulgaria's Schengen Readiness
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev (left) with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in Rome. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Top Story

Russia to Grant Surprising Discount on Natural Gas Prices for Bulgaria

Russia will grant a discount of around 11% on natural gas prices from April 1, according to preliminary reports of Gazprom cited by Energy and Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev.

Bulgaria currently pays USD 600 per 1000 cubic meters, which will be reduced to USD 534 per 1000 cu m from April, according to preliminary data.

The discount will be valid for the next nine months.

The news came out after Friday's meeting in Moscow between the Bulgarian Energy Minister, his Russian counterpart Sergey Shmatko and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.

In the course of Friday's talks, Gazprom expressed interest in the construction of a natural gas power plant in Belene, following the suspension of the project for building a nuclear power plant on the site.

The Russian energy giant vowed to study the opportunities for its participation in the gas power plant scheme.

As regards the Belene NPP project, Bulgaria undertook a commitment to pay everything that had already been prepared, with the exact sum to be specified in April, the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported.

Russia also said it would take part in the activities surrounding the transformation of the two units earmarked for the Belene NPP project into one reactor that would be mounted at the Kozloduy NPP.

The issue of Bulgaria having to pay penalties for its withdrawal from the Belene NPP project was not brought up during the talks.

Bulgaria to Finance External Debt through Foreign Markets

The Bulgarian government has decided to give up on financing repayment of external debt with internal resources and will seek money from foreign markets.

The decision is written in a draft that is expected to be voted on soon, the Friday issue of "Capital Daily" reports. Bulgaria has to find and repay EUR 818.5 M in foreign debt by January 2013.

The document makes it clear that the intention of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov to use three local sources â�� the domestic market, the Silver Fund and the fiscal reserve to finance pending payments is not going to materialize.

The draft notes that Djankov should initiate the withdrawal of a bond loan for EUR 950 M.

Deputy Minister of Finance Boryana Pencheva is quoted saying that the preliminary procedure for a bond issue has progressed and the decision will be voted at the Cabinet meeting next week. According to Pencheva, the time is right to issue bonds on foreign markets, an opinion that is backed by most experts who monitor what is happening on financial markets, writes Capital.

The experts, cited in another publicatio of by the same newspaper, point out that it makes sense for Bulgaria to issue at least EUR 500 M. Recently, the Finance Minister had commented that the new global bonds will ensure no more than EUR 300 M.

The draft further lists as motives for the decision the fact that the internal market has played its role in the last 2 years in providing 80% of the gross debt financing of the State, but "is characterized by relatively limited liquidity and not so broad investor base, dominated by local residents." It also notes that Bulgaria must not count on just one source of financing.

Financing of debt through foreign markets will ensure that the fiscal reserve would remain above BGN 4.5 B at the end of this year and in 2013 will remain between BGN 4 and 4.4 B, according to the Finance Ministry.

Pencheva informs that the whole process from the political decision to the obtaining the loan and the ratification of the loan contract will take maximum 10 weeks. During this time, the government must choose the best offer from bank bids, but the process will not be long because the Public Procurement Act does not cover this procedure.

Energy

Russia Wants to Be Heavily Involved in Modifying Bulgaria's NPP Project

The Russian state energy corporations would still like to be heavily involved in Bulgaria's endeavors even after earlier this week the Bulgarian government decided to terminate the joint project for a 2000 MW NPP in Belene.
| read |

Diplomacy

Bulgaria's President 'Resurrects' Transport Corridor 8 during Italy Visit

The Presidents of Bulgaria and Italy, Rosen Plevneliev and Giorgio Napolitano have agreed "to accelerate the work on" the creation of Pan-European Transport Corridor No.
| read |

More News

· Hungarian President Loses Doctorate for 'Bulgarian' Plagiarism
· Ciragette Maker Bulgartabac Registers BGN 31.3 M Profit in 2011

· Clash Erupts in Finnish Parliament over Bulgarian, Romanian Roma Beggars
· Bulgarian Oligarch to Be Charged over Abuses at Sofia Municipal Bank

Finance