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During a special ceremony, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev together with Labour and Social Policy Minister Emiliya Maslarova lunched the Beautiful Bulgaria project for 2009, Focus news agency reported on February 3 2009.

The program has 11 private sector contracts - five projects in the tourism, manufacturing and crafts and six projects that aim at renovating and preserving buildings, privately owned, with cultural and historic significance.

During 2009, a total of 241 sites will be re-touched and beautified with an allotted budget of about 45 million leva.

Beautiful Bulgaria project is part of the Labour Ministry's master-plan to tackle rising unemployment rates. The idea is to pull out workers of the construction business and secure jobs of some 6400 people.

More than 4000 unemployed people would be offered to acquire new skills and find new positions. The plan also supports the small and middle construction companies and makes the natural attractions of a lot of municipalities better displayed for attracting tourists.

During the ceremony, Maslarova said that using the Beautiful Bulgaria concept, more than 100 day care centres and kindergartens have been renovated. Until now, some 18000 jobless people have participated in the project, while 12000 others have received new training and skills, according to Maslarova as quoted by Focus.

Source: Sofia Echo

The start of the last construction stage of Gesha View ecological village near Drianovo was given on 16 Jan. marking the third year of the project beginning of the investor Simply Bulgaria

The last stage of the project includes construction of 42 individual apartments of 4,914 sq. m for BGN 3.6m. The design was prepared by a team with leading architect Nikolay Malakov, consultant is Investstroy 92. The total volume of the investments is expected to exceed BGN 20m. The deadline for completion is in the beginning of 2010. The complex was first conceived as a tourist project "second home" aimed mostly at foreign buyers planning their holidays in Bulgaria and as a main concept - generating flow of tourists in the beautiful area of Central Bulgaria, between Veliko Tarnovo, Drianovo and Gabrovo - a zone with a lot of potential for this new type of tourism that has been under development for a long time already in Western Europe.

Source: Stroitelstvo.info

Real estate investment firm Bulgarian Property Developments, which is listed on the alternative segment of the London Stock Exchange, unveiled plans to build a second logistic park in Bulgaria.

The company has been granted construction permit for the scheme planned for the Danube town of Rousse.

The project has so far cost EUR 2 million, and the total investment is seen at EUR 12.5 million, the company said in a statement.

The logistic park will rise close to a car parts factory of French auto maker Montupet and a plant of Spanish manufacturer of wall and floor tiles Keros Ceramica, which should open in the spring.

Construction works on the park will begin the April, with the first stage scheduled for completion by the year’s end.

International company King Sturge is exlcusive advisor on the project, which was designed by Fletcher Architects and Bulgarian company ProConsult.

Source: Dnevnik a.m.

The project "Cadastre and property register", financing by the World bank will develop uniform information system, the executive director of the Agency of geodesy, cartography and cadastre engineer Tzvetan Boev announced. The information system of the cadastre and property register will give the chance to the residents and authorities in the country to check up for different properties online. They will be able to check up for owners of the properties, property square surface, documents for ownership and the completion of the deal.
The changes with the property deals will be reported online in real time. According to the Bulgarian low once the deal has been completed, it will has to be registered not only in the Agency of entrance, but also automatically in the Cadastre by the end of the working day. When the technical changes have been done by the Agency of cadastre, at the same time they will be accessible for all users of cadastre information including the state authorities. The rights of the residents and owners will be guaranteed in this way. The state authorities, notary publics, private executive magistrates will be able to check up for larger territories without wasting of time.

Source: Monitor.bg

"These rocks are as if touched by God". In these words Georgi Ushakov - a Bulgarian living in Canada advertises the Belogradchik Rocks in the competition for the most phenomenal nature wonders.

The group of bizarre sandstone and limestone rock formations situated near the town of Vidin (northwestern Bulgaria) is among the first seven nominated wonders; 261 beautiful sites on six continents will compete till July 7, 2009. They were chosen among 441 nominations from all over the world. The Belogradchik Rocks are in the running with the Everest, Grand Canyon, Mont Blanc, Mount Vesuvious, Loch Ness, Lake Balaton, Titicaca Lake, Niagara Falls, Bora-Bora and the Great Barrier Reef.
Each country might participate with only one natural phenomenon in the competition for nature wonder. However, Bulgaria sneaks with two due to the nomination of the Danube River running through 10 European countries.
Voting forms are available at www.7wonders.com and voting will be closed on July 7. The 77 most voted for nature phenomena would continue the contest. On July 21, a competent jury led by the former director-general of UNESCO Federico Mayor will decide what are the most unique sites in the world. Thus 21 wonders of the world will run for the final.

Source: News.bg

Sofia is taking the first place for rising the prices of renting of industrial areas in Europe and a second place among the countries in Europe, the Near East and Africa for 2008, according to the consulting company CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) research. The rents of the high quality industrial areas in Sofia have been increased with 25% annual based by 31st of December, 2008 and have reached 60 euro per square meter annually.
In relation of increasing the rent levels, Sofia has been left behind only from Dubai, where they have been increased with 50% for the last year – 96,46 euro per square meter annually. High registerd growth among the markets are countries, such as Warsaw with 11,3% annually growth, Moscow with 7,69% and Edinburgh with 7,41%. The biggest decreasing is registered in Tel Aviv, where all rents have been dropped with 21,51%.
The industrial areas in Paris and Oslo have been with highest rents in the last year among the markets included in the research, respectively with 160 and 132 euro per square meter annually. The cheapest ones are in Berlin, Lisabon and Bratislava with 54 euro per square meter.
The average annual profitability from the most qualified industrial areas in Sofia is with registered annual growth of 125 based points and it has reached 9,5%, which is the highest level in the European Union, leaving behind Bucharest, Dublin and Budapest, each with 9%.
Kiev is with the highest profitability among all the markets included in the research, with 16%, the second place is taken from Moscow with 12%.The rents of the business areas in Sofia have increased with 4% in the last year and reached 780 euro/sq.m annually. The profitability from high quality business areas is registered with 25 points by 8,5%. Office rents in the capital have dropped from 5,56% to 204 euro/sq.m. annually. The profitability from the office rents has raised with 175 points to 9%.

Source: Investor.bg

By Oxford Business Group

Though Bulgaria was sidetracked by the economic slowdown, the country fared better in 2008 than many of its neighbours and fellow members of the EU, maintaining higher levels of growth, seeing a fall in inflation and recording solid rates of foreign direct investment (FDI).
According to official figures published by the state news agency, Bulgaria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7% in the first three quarters of the year, compared to the same nine months in 2007. Though this expansion slowed somewhat in the third quarter, easing to 6.8% year-on-year in the July to September period, compared to 7.1% in the previous quarter, it is estimated that when final figures are released early in the new year, GDP for 2008 will have grown by 6.5%.

Growth for 2009 is expected to abate, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting an increase of 2%. However, Bulgaria is not expected to fall into recession in the new year, setting the country apart from many of its fellow EU members.

While FDI in Bulgaria slowed in 2008, the decline for the first 10 months of the year was not unexpected, given the climate of the international economy. Up to the end of October, the country drew $6.57bn worth of FDI, representing 14.3% of GDP, according to figures issued by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in December. This represents a fall of 9.2% compared to the same period in 2007. The Bulgarian economy nevertheless remained attractive for overseas investors.

One area of the economy that fared poorly was the stock market, with the Bulgarian Stock Exchange starting the year with a record 25% drop in January, and taking further hits in September and October following news of the deepening global downturn.

By the end of trading in 2008, the exchange’s two main indexes, the Sofix and BG 40, had both retreated by more than 79% each, while market capitalisation fell by just under 60%. By year’s end, total capitalisation represented 18.47% of GDP, compared to 51.29% at the close of 2007.

High oil and commodity costs fuelled inflation in Bulgaria in the first half of the year, with price rises hitting a 10-year high of 15.3% in June. However, in subsequent months, as energy costs started trending down and supply side demand fell, inflation began to ease, dropping to 8.8% at the end of November. Looking forward, the IMF predicted in mid-December that inflation would fall to 4.5% in 2009, mainly due to lower food and oil prices and some of the heat being taken out of domestic demand.

Bulgaria’s real estate sector experienced a slowdown of its own, though it would have been hard to maintain the breakneck rate of growth experienced in 2007, when residential property prices increased by 29%. Estimates at the beginning of the year projected property price increases of 10-15% for 2008. Though figures for the first quarter had suggested prices would continue to surge at 2007 levels, by the third quarter increases had eased to around 3%, according to a report by the local media in late December.

While sales to foreigners were down, Bulgaria still earned $1.6bn from real estate sales to overseas buyers in the opening 10 months of the year, down from the $2bn generated in the corresponding period the previous year, BNB figures released in December showed.

Bulgaria’s hopes of becoming a major energy transit country were given a significant boost in July, when the Bulgarian parliament ratified an agreement with Russia to build a pipeline to carry Russian gas to European markets. State gas monopoly Bulgargaz will form a joint company with Russia’s Gazprom to construct and operate the pipeline, which will have an annual throughput capacity of 31bn cubic metres when completed, possibly as soon as 2013.

Combined with the proposed Nabucco pipeline - the project long championed by Sofia to bring Central Asian gas to Europe - Bulgaria could serve as the transit point for 10-12% of the EU’s gas supplies, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said in June.

In September, initial work began on Bulgaria’s second nuclear power station, with construction scheduled to commence in May 2009. The Belene facility will feature two 1000 MW reactors, with the first due to come on line in 2013.

The Bulgarian government has vowed to step up spending in the new year to stimulate the economy and ward off the worst effects of the global downturn. Having initially announced a budget with total revenue of $14.7bn, and expenditures of $7.9bn, the state is well placed to build on its pump-priming efforts in 2009. Combined with the fact that most of the country’s economy remained in positive territory in 2008, this should allow Bulgaria to ride out the international economic storm.

Source: balkanalysis.com

Those looking to invest in Bulgarian property in 2009 will continue to see good returns on their purchase, according to a forecast by one property magazine.
Despite returns falling slightly from the 30 per cent average annual price increase buyers in the country have been benefiting from for the past five years, Quest Bulgaria has stated homes in the country are still a "good long-term bet" for investors.
Noting that Bulgarian property "remains incredibly cheap", the publication explained that the country's "stable" housing market has suffered little as a result of the credit crunch, adding that buyers who wish to invest in property overseas but have limited finance available to them may see Bulgaria as an ideal solution.

Source: smartnewhomes.com

The global financial fallout will not dampen Bulgarians’ enthusiasm for Christmas shopping with the bulk of them planning to spend more than in the two previous years, showed a poll of Alpha Research agency ordered by Dnevnik.
Paradoxical as the Christmas lavishness may seem, Bulgarians tend to spend little on gifts and saving it would not solve financial troubles anyway.
The Christmas shopping spree is a lingering effect of the economic boost and the wage growth the country has seen in the recent years.
Still, the number of bargain-hunters has grown to 16 percent from 9 percent in 2006, the sociologists said, and retailers agree.
“Clients come with a wad of leaflets and start comparing prices,” a manager of a Technopolis store, the electronics chain, told Dnevnik.
A manager from home appliance retailer Zora said most people take their time before making any purchase.
According to a survey of Synovate, the U.S. market research company, electronics, clothes and shoes, and cars are top on Bulgarians’ Christmas wish list.
Health is all they wish for about two percent of Bulgarians, while 19 percent would rather have their gifts in cash.

Source: Dnevnik a.m.

English-language countries have shown a remarkable interest in Bulgarian property, according to data from Globaledge Portal, which has more than 1.4 million international orders for real estate from around the world.

The analysis is based on demand from the English-speaking world (UK, USA, Australia, Ireland and Canada), and the information was categorised and processed for each country and dates from September until December 2008.
The English speaking world's love affair with Spain continues with Spanish real estate by far the most desired. Tenerife, Majorca and the Costa Blanca are all more popular destinations than Paris or most French destinations, bearing in mind that France occupies second places.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the research is Portugal, which ranks last of the 11 countries listed. Having accumulated only a meagre three per cent of votes from clients and having only generated three per cent of interest for purchase, Spain's sunny neighbour is at the bottom of the pit. Portugal not only lags significantly behind other traditional destinations such as Spain, France and Italy, but recent reports indicate that Portugal's real estate in 2008 became increasingly expensive, losing its competitive edge in the process.

The Middle East ranks fourth with 8.6 per cent of total demand volume. Over 70 per cent of the applications for real estate in the Middle East are all centred around one particular area – Dubai.

Central and South America are ranked fifth with eight per cent of total demand on the Internet. Panama is the most popular destination with 20 per cent, followed by Mexico with 11.4 per cent.

Bulgaria ranks sixth out of eleven, with 7.2 per cent interest. Seventh place is occupied by Cyprus with 7.1 per cent followed by the Caribbean with 5.6 per cent. Jamaica was the regional leader with 12.9 per cent of the pie, followed by the Dominican Republic with 6.6 per cent.Eastern Europe is ninth, with 5.4 per cent and Turkey is tenth with 4.6 per cent.

The analysis is extrapolated from a database of clients in the United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Ireland and Canada, countries that do not themselves participate in this particular list.

Nick Iliev

Source: PropertyWise Bulgaria