Parliament finally approves 2025 budget after 15 hours of debate
After a delay of more than three months, parliament finally adopted the state budget for 2025. Debates on it lasted more than 15 hours, ending early this morning. The number of deputies in the hall was unusually large - the electronic system counted 227 MPs.
Instead of debating text by text, speeches were made at once on all provisions, and then the proposals were voted on one after the other. The budget has a deficit of 3%, which meets the Maastricht criteria for the eurozone. Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova expressed hopes that the next annual budget would be adopted after Bulgaria enters the euro.
State-owned groceries to open in national post offices
The creation of a chain of state-owned stores located in national post offices has been approved in an attempt to combat the high prices of food and other essential goods. The measure, as proposed by Delyan Peevski last week, was discussed in the state budget.
The adopted text suggests the creation of a trading company with 100% ownership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, which will trade "in food and other essential goods". This formula of words appears to leave the door open to sell not just food, but, for example, medicines as well.
The trade markup is set at a maximum of 10%, and a requirement is created to sell goods from primarily Bulgarian producers. The company's capital is 10 million levs, and the deadline for its creation is one month from the adoption of the budget.
Unique Estates buys stake in Dubai luxury real estate agency
Luxury real estate company Unique Estates, part of the Bulgarian group of agencies Realto Group, has announced its first direct entry into the international market. The company has acquired a stake in Savoir Prive Properties, a leading Dubai luxury real estate company. The partnership agreement was signed in Sofia today.
From now on, the Dubai company will operate under the name Savoir I Unique Estates. The goal of the partnership is to expand the network of clients in key markets such as China, India and Romania, and to triple the financial results. It is expected that within two years, the team in Dubai will reach 80 profiled consultants, with brokers from the Unique Estates office in Sofia also joining.
Parliament finally approves 2025 budget after 15 hours of debate
After a delay of more than three months, parliament finally adopted the state budget for 2025. Debates on it lasted more than 15 hours, ending early this morning. The number of deputies in the hall was unusually large - the electronic system counted 227 MPs.
