A contentious subject today was the new Covid-19 tests for children which the state received this weekend. They are designed for pupils from 1 to 4 grade with the aim of "returning children to school". But some still oppose the new decision - with dissent coming from parents and school principals. The other hot topic this week, not surprisingly, is the elections this Sunday, 14 November. Some polls show interesting results:
GERB leads again, We Continue the Change vies for second place - poll
With a week to go before the parliamentary election, a poll by Gallup international research group, conducted between 23 and 31 October, says former ruling party GERB will come first with 24.2%. The new party "We continue the change" (WCC), which was founded by two ex-caretaker ministers, comes third with 13.7%, but not far behind The Bulgarian Socialistic party on 15.7%.
Meanwhile, another sociological agency - Exacta, gives a bigger chance to We Continue the Change. According to the poll conducted between 29 October and 5 November, WCC is on 15% support and BSP is on 15.5%. Also, according to Gallup, a quarter of those who are undecided say they are most likely to vote for WCC.
Brussels gives Bulgaria 15 million euro to tourism sector
The European Commission has approved a scheme for 15.3 mln. euro (30 mln levs) designed to assist businesses in the tourism sector that suffered inordinately from the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be granted to companies that reported a decline in their turnover of at least 30 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. The companies will receive aid amounting to 20% of their annual turnover in 2019, or up to 1.8 million euros, reported Bulgarian National Radio.
National Bank issues new T-bonds for 500 mln levs
Today the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) held an auction for the sale of 500,000 interest-bearing treasury bonds with a nominal value of 250 million euro (500 million BGN) at 0.00% annual interest rate. The bonds come with a fixed-rate issue maturing on 24 February 2026, the central bank said. This is the ninth auction of the Ministry of Finance this year, with the finance institution re-issuing for the third time the same issue. At the previous auction of the issue, held in October, the finance ministry sold 500 million levs worth of bonds at a negative weighted average annual yield of 0.02%.
A contentious subject today was the new Covid-19 tests for children which the state received this weekend. They are designed for pupils from 1 to 4 grade with the aim of "returning children to school". But some still oppose the new decision - with dissent coming from parents and school principals. The other hot topic this week, not surprisingly, is the elections this Sunday, 14 November. Some polls show interesting results:
