The day in 3 news: December was bad for business, e-commerce excluded, more vaccines are coming, and the President vetoed the new special prosecutor

E-commerce is booming

The day in 3 news: December was bad for business, e-commerce excluded, more vaccines are coming, and the President vetoed the new special prosecutor

E-commerce is booming

© Надежда Чипева


Bulgaria will request 3.3 mln additional vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. The health minister's admission today follows the debacle surrounding AstraZeneca - the vaccine Bulgaria bet firmly on last year.

Another noteworthy was the announced new pre-election coalition between a small nationalistic party currently in government and the party of well-known businessman Vesselin Mareshki. Although their combined voter base is shrinking, their entry into parliament - however slim the prospect - would be welcomed by ruling party GERB when trying to form another government.

No new special prosecutor said the President

Rumen Radev vetoed proposals to change the Penal code which would have created the figure of a special prosecutor to investigate the higher levels of the Prosecution service. According to the President's office, such a figure would merely emulate the problem with the existing Chief Prosecutor - namely, it would be an untouchable and unaccountable position with potentially great power levers.

December was bad for retail, construction, and industry

Bulgaria's exports shrank by 7% last year, according to official figures from the National Statistical Institute. Imports also shrank by 9.6%. Retail was down 12% in December compared to 2019, although e-commerce grew by an impressive 40%. Construction was down 7.1% year-on-year for the last month of 2020, as well as industrial production - by 3.3%.

Paperless e-trade is almost here

The National Revenue Agency is entering the second phase of its major project for paperless reporting for e-commerce. Together with business representatives, the revenue agency is discussing how to drop requirements for paper reports from e-stores. This will ease the administrative burden as well as eradicate the need for POS-terminals for online businesses.

Bulgaria will request 3.3 mln additional vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. The health minister's admission today follows the debacle surrounding AstraZeneca - the vaccine Bulgaria bet firmly on last year.

Another noteworthy was the announced new pre-election coalition between a small nationalistic party currently in government and the party of well-known businessman Vesselin Mareshki. Although their combined voter base is shrinking, their entry into parliament - however slim the prospect - would be welcomed by ruling party GERB when trying to form another government.

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