December 7 (SeeNews) - Following are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers over the weekend and on Monday morning. SeeNews has not verified these reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
DNEVNIK
- Bulgaria will end the year with a budget gap of 0.7%-0.8% of the projected gross domestic product, Deputy Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said.
- Bulgaria will look for U.S. and European investors to build a new unit at its sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy, an unnamed government source said. The country decided to consider the project after it temporarily halted a plan to build a 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant at Belene over financial difficulties and the withdrawal of the strategic investor in the plant, Germany's RWE.
- Bulgaria's central bank will ease bank regulations as regards to capital adequacy and provisions specific to credit risk next year, Governor Ivan Iskrov said. The bank however will not consider lowering minimum reserves requirements, which now stand at 12%. Iskrov expects the banks operating in the country to post a combined profit of 650-700 million levs this year, half the level recorded in 2008.
- Bulgaria's exports of textiles fell by 21% and employment in the sector decreased 20% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2009, Valeria Zhekova, head of the textile producer association said. Ninety-three percent of the country's textiles production is exported to European countries.
- Vitosha Ski, which operates the ski run in park Vitosha near the capital Sofia, plans to invest 70 million euro in new tracks and facilities if its project gets the green light from the Environment Ministry, the company said.
- Fuel retailers expect a 10%-15% rise in fuel prices due to changes in the tax legislation, in force as of December 1, under which importers must store the fuel in licensed tax warehouses, industry officials said.
PARI
- Bulgaria will decide by the end of the week whether or not to participate in the long-delayed Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, designed to carry Russian oil to Europe via Bulgaria and Greece, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said. The decision will be announced during an intergovernmental Bulgarian-Russian energy committee meeting due on December 11-12.
STANDART
- The Customs Agency is expected to lay off some 600 people in the next 10 days, the daily reported quoting unnamed sources of the agency.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)