It was a relatively calm end to the week. Perhaps people are getting used to the new COVID-19 measures, announced on Tuesday, which necessitate a green certificate for indoor venues. Of course, some are still rebelling and joined protests staged by nationalist parties. Others hurried to get a vaccine shot and queued in front of hospitals and mobile vaccination spots. Many restaurants and clubs said they will require a green certificate from Monday as they can't be fined by the police before then. Despite the Covid situation, however, there is other interesting news:
BNB: GDP is expected to increase by 3.9% in 2021
Bulgarian National Bank revised its autumn prognosis for post-pandemic growth and expects GDP to go up 3.9% in 2021 on the base scenario, lowering its previous projection for 4.1% economic growth this year. For 2022, the anticipated rate accelerates to 4.7% and slows down to 3.8% in 2023. "The dynamics of GDP significantly reflect the change in net exports and the time distribution of funds that are expected to be received from Bulgaria for the implementation of projects under the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan," notes BNB.
450 mln levs compensation for business' electricity bills
Businesses will receive less than requested, but more than first promised by the government by way of compensation for high electricity prices. The final decision of the caretaker cabinet is to give 110 levs for each required megawatt-hour. In total, there will be 450 million levs (230 mln euro) given via the scheme which will be enough for subsidies for October and November. The money will come from the profits of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, which is expected to reach 1.5 billion levs in 2021.
Irregular migrant arrests in September up nearly 29% on August
A total of 1,626 third-country nationals, who were residing in Bulgaria with irregular status, were detained in September, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release on Friday. A number of 154 migrants were arrested at the border while trying to enter Bulgaria, 128 of them while attempting to leave the country without registering and 1,344 were found in the interior. The total number of arrested irregular migrants is 28.9% higher than in August when they numbered 1,261, reported BNA.
It was a relatively calm end to the week. Perhaps people are getting used to the new COVID-19 measures, announced on Tuesday, which necessitate a green certificate for indoor venues. Of course, some are still rebelling and joined protests staged by nationalist parties. Others hurried to get a vaccine shot and queued in front of hospitals and mobile vaccination spots. Many restaurants and clubs said they will require a green certificate from Monday as they can't be fined by the police before then. Despite the Covid situation, however, there is other interesting news:
