site.btaMedia Review: January 30

POLITICS

24 Chasa has a story on the likelihood that President Rumen Radev will build a new political project. A presidential project has been rumoured for a long time, and last year Radev himself "led" a popular movement in support of keeping March 3 (Liberation Day) as Bulgaria's national holiday. The idea of changing the date of the national holiday to May 24 (Day of Slavic Alphabet, Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture) was among the proposed constitutional amendments. Shortly thereafter, politicians and public figures linked to the head of State set up an initiative committee to collect signatures for a referendum on keeping the date of the national holiday. Among them were MEP Petar Vitanov and former sports minister Vesela Lecheva. It is the initiative committee "Third of March" that is being considered as the basis for a future presidential project. The media outlet says it made a check which shows that a registration from the Patent Office was obtained for the trademark "Third March Movement" on December 5. The documents for it were filed back on August 4, 2023, by Lecheva, who left the BSP a month ago. The trademark is reserved for 10 years. The scope of the movement's activities is broadly spelled out - political fundraising and financial sponsorship services, advertising and communications of all kinds, commercial purposes, economic forecasting, public opinion polling, human resources consulting and more. Political rumours are increasingly persistent that the presidential project will be up and running by March 3 this year, and will enter the European elections in June, the story reads.

bTV aired a statement by Vice President Iliana Iotova commenting on Radev's Monday words that Bulgaria needs political alternative. "Yesterday I read in the President's words that he did not say he was the alternative, nor did he say he would make the alternative or build a new political party. Everyone in society sees that there is a need for something new," she argued. Iotova also commented on the attacks from Movement for Rights and Freedoms floor leader Delyan Peevski, who has recently been accusing the President's administration of foul play and suggested that the competent authorities may have put on hold investigations against presidential aides. "The first was The President and the Ukraine War, the second was The President and the Constitution, and the ongoing one is obviously For a President's Hyde," she explained.

Mediapool.bg has an article on Peevski's attacks towards the President's administration. The media outlet notes that Peevski and GERB leader Boyko Borissov speak politically without giving any data on possible violations or abuses. Naturally, this does not prevent such data from being available, but they are not made public. Mediapool highlights a major issue: assuming that the Prosecution Office and the services do indeed have information about possible abuses by people close to Radev, but have not taken action against them, this is very worrying. If it is assumed that there is no such data, but the investigators are stepping up because Peevski wants them to, this is also very scary, the article stresses.

In an interview on Nova Television's morning show, former deputy energy minister Miroslav Sevlievski said Peevski's attacks reveal his desire to identify himself as an alternative to Radev. "And I cannot deny he is doing it successfully," Sevlievski added.

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, Center for the Study of Democracy's Economic Program Director Ruslan Stefanov pointed out that Bulgarian society is already numb when it comes to corruption. He listed a number of high-profile corruption cases from recent years that have not been completed or have not resulted in prosecutions. The lack of any technical ability to counter this is worrying, Stefanov noted. "These crimes are not prosecuted in detail," he added. Bulgaria is the second EU country after Croatia to be added to the so-called "grey list" for anti-money laundering. The mechanism is key to international standards on money laundering and terrorist financing. The country will be under increased surveillance. Reassessments are made every 2 years. For all banking institutions, this entry on the 'grey list' means that certain transactions will not be concluded and certain businessmen will refrain from investing. “This label in the eyes of our partners is "a kind of economic Schengen" and has an economic cost,” the expert pointed out.

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On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, Education Minister Galin Tzokov commented on Government's Monday proposal to waive tuition fees for undergraduate and PhD students in state universities enrolled in state-subsidized places. He said that the goal is to make higher education in Bulgaria better. "So the opportunity for students to stay and work in Bulgaria is much greater. The number of students is decreasing due to the demographic crisis. The fees waiver requires BGN 150 million for 2024, it will cover the second semester of this academic year and the first semester of the next academic year," he added. Tzokov explained that in recent years there have been no vacancies, but the grades are falling.

ECONOMY

24 Chasa features an extensive interview with Institute for Market Economics Senior Economist Lachezar Bogdanov on the state of the country's property market. "We have seen very rapid growth in lending, especially mortgages to households - and it has been accelerating in recent months,” he points out. This means that there is an increasing amount of resources that the banking system is channeling primarily into the housing market. “That is creating demand, keeping prices rising, unlike in other eurozone countries where we are already seeing year-on-year declines," Bogdanov explains. The rise in prices is leading to the start of many new construction projects, hence there is additional resource in construction companies, additional investment in the production of construction-related machinery, additional resource for all construction-related services, furnishing, brokerage and legal services, etc., he adds.

Telegraph has an article on Bulgaria's credit market. The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) is considering cooling housing lending as commercial banks lend too easily, the daily quotes BNB's latest analysis. Over the past year, mortgage loans taken out have increased by more than 20%. The average size of a loan is BGN 200,000, and the banks' requirements are that the monthly repayment should not exceed 50% of income. In addition, banks require a deductible on the loan, which is on average between 15 and 20% of the total cost of the home or loan. Some of the changes provide for a larger participation of the client and a condition that he dispose of this money himself, the article states.

Trud also covers the issue. The daily quotes data from an analysis of the state of the credit market in Bulgaria, developed by financiers from the Experts Club for Economics and Politics. According to it, housing loans in Bulgaria may not rise at all, although a year and a half ago the European Central Bank started raising its key interest rates.

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24 Chasa features a study that says beauty services have gone up by up to 20%. The most significant increase was in hairdressing, the National Chamber of Crafts notes. One of the main reasons for the price increase is the raising of the minimum wage and minimum social security income, the daily writes. It is impossible not to have an increase in the price of services when the salaries of the people who offer them are raised, says Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association Chair Vasil Velev. There is also an increase in the price of goods produced by other crafts - leather goods, art ceramics, etc.

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Telegraph reports that brand new cars bought in the country are around 30% of those brought second hand from abroad. A check by the newspaper shows that Bulgarians bought some 40 cars worth at least BGN 500,000 apiece in 2023. The daily quotes information from the traffic police records, according to which more cars of the most expensive brands were registered in Bulgaria last year. Second-hand cars are dramatically more expensive. Experts say their prices are up by between 40% and 50%, and this is reducing both profits and the number of buyers. The rise in price in recent months is mainly due to the jump in the cost of various services used in car dealerships to bring the car into a usable and driveable condition.

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24 Chasa has an article on Bulgaria's trade with Turkiye. The newspaper quotes Economy Ministry as saying that Turkiye is Bulgaria's second largest importer of goods, and the negative balance in bilateral trade has been growing rapidly over the past 4 years, exceeding EUR 1.8 billion. In the first nine months of 2023, ranked fourth among Bulgaria's trading partners in terms of exports and second in terms of imports, with shares of 6.1% and 8.3% respectively. The geographical proximity and the potential of the Turkish economy and market predetermine high economic activity between Bulgarian and Turkish firms, the Ministry points out.