With just four days to go before the elections a scandal erupted surrounding voting machines after additional devices were found in warehouses of the supplier company - Ciela Norma. Nobody can explain exactly how they got there but the reported number varies between 400 and 600. Also, nobody can explain the purpose of these machines, although some people assume that the aim is to manipulate the vote on Sunday. However, in the business world, there was a major development: the Bulgarian's largest producer and distributor of organic products listed on the stock exchange.
Smart Organic raises 5.8 mln levs on stock exchange debut
Smart Organic's listing was oversubscribed nearly two times, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) said on Thursday. All 310 thousand shares offered were sold at the highest announced price - 18.9 million levs. So Smart Organic raised nearly 6 million levs in the IPO held on the BSE's small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth market BEAM. The producer will use the funds to acquire an unnamed German competitor and build a new production facility. Also, the achieved price per share puts the company directly in the top 20 by capitalization on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Everything you need to know about the IPO is here.
EC lowers Bulgaria's GDP forecast to 3.8% in 2021
The European Commission has lowered its economic growth forecast for Bulgaria in 2021 to 3.8% from 4.6% predicted in July, according to the new Autumn 2021 European Economic Forecast report. The Commission said it sees Bulgaria's GDP accelerating to 4.1% in 2022 and remaining strong at 3.5% in 2023. Recent hikes in energy and food prices are set to erode the purchasing power of low-income households, notes the report.
"In the first half of 2021, the economic recovery in Bulgaria was held back by high economic uncertainty and containment measures. Investment and services exports remained suppressed, while domestic consumption and goods exports contributed positively to aggregate demand. These two factors, combined with the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, are set to boost economic growth in the next two years," according to the forecast.
Alfa Research: Six parties in the next parliament and runoff presidential election
A new polling survey, amid a throng of them this week, puts GERB in pole position with support of 24.1%. Similar to two other sociological findings, the Alfa Research polling agency gives second place to the new party We Continue the Change which has 0.5% more support than The Bulgarian Socialist Party in third place. Alfa says a runoff is likely in the presidential race because Rumen Radev, who is running for a second term in office, can expect 46.4% of the votes, and Anastas Gerdzhikov - 28.3%.
With just four days to go before the elections a scandal erupted surrounding voting machines after additional devices were found in warehouses of the supplier company - Ciela Norma. Nobody can explain exactly how they got there but the reported number varies between 400 and 600. Also, nobody can explain the purpose of these machines, although some people assume that the aim is to manipulate the vote on Sunday. However, in the business world, there was a major development: the Bulgarian's largest producer and distributor of organic products listed on the stock exchange.
