On Thursday, MPs approved the motion that sets the first round of the Presidential elections for 14 November, with a potential second round the following Sunday, 21 November. Additionally, BSP, which holds the third and final mandate to form a government, will decide later today whether to return it to President Rumen Radev immediately on Friday or next week, as initially planned. When this happens, the President will be able to trigger early elections and choose a date for them.
Reluctantly, health authorities introduce new Covid restrictions from 7 September
These include restricting attendance at indoor cultural events, including theaters, cinemas and concerts to 50 percent of venue capacity, cancelling team-buildings, fitness centers working at 30 percent capacity and all indoor sports activities completely scrapped. Indoor sports events will take place without an audience, while outdoor events can allow up to 30 percent attendance of fans. Additionally, restaurants, bars and casinos can only work between 7am and 10pm with severe restrictions. Restaurant and bar owners were up in arms about the last measure, saying they would boycott restrictions and start blockades in different regions, beginning Friday.
Revenue Agency collected 9 billion euro by end of August, up from 8 billion in 2020
The National Revenue Agency (NRA) declared on Thursday that it has increased the collection rate for the first eight months of the year by 12.5 percent compared to the same period in 2020. The results are due to a higher collection of corporate taxes (27 percent increase), individual earnings taxes (15 percent increase) and social security payments (10 percent increase), the agency says. NRA director Rumen Spetsov was quoted as saying that "business has become much better at voluntarily declaring and paying taxes" over the past couple of months.
Greater consumption pushes gas sales up by 32 percent: Bulgargaz
State-owned gas company Bulgargaz has sold 32 percent more gas to its Bulgarian clients in the first six months of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, leading to a 80 percent increase in profits for the same period. It is expected that the 40 percent increase in gas prices over the last two months would lead to even higher profits for the second half of the year.
On Thursday, MPs approved the motion that sets the first round of the Presidential elections for 14 November, with a potential second round the following Sunday, 21 November. Additionally, BSP, which holds the third and final mandate to form a government, will decide later today whether to return it to President Rumen Radev immediately on Friday or next week, as initially planned. When this happens, the President will be able to trigger early elections and choose a date for them.
