Bulgarian Stock Exchange: blue chips underperform broader market in H1

Investors find safe-haven in REITs

What a waste

A large-scale Bulgarian business with international reach comes under unexpected attack from the prosecution

Remember those scandals

Before the COVID-19 crisis took center stage a series of crisis seemed to be shaking the government. Now they are conveniently overlooked.

Bulgaria’s new factories

Investment projects worth 1.3 billion levs were announced last year, up 500 million levs on 2018

The loophole of in-house procurement

The in-house procurement procedures – the awarding of public contracts without tenders, has become a favorite way to allocate money in a non-transparent manner

A Glitch on Bulgaria’s Euro Path

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov unexpectedly "freezes" Bulgaria's advance into the euro area despite positive signals from Brussels

Is State Capitalism Marching On?

Within a brief period, Bulgaria’s government has aggressively injected billions of levs into key sectors, and has effectively started nationalizing businesses

Organized crime in Bulgaria: Five popular beliefs re-examined

Bulgaria, unfortunately, has built an image of a country deeply affected by organized crime

No water to clean the garbage

Many Bulgarian towns live on water rationing and next to piles of imported waste because of intentional neglect by the authorities.

Fast Reads

Small, midsize and of ever increasing importance

For the first time, the yearly Gepard ranking of most dynamic small and midsize enterprises in Bulgaria by Capital comprises more than 2200 companies. They have increased their revenues by more than 30% in 2018.

Instead of a thousand words

A coastal city willing to grow

Life is boiling in Burgas only during summer

Krumovgrad’s hill of gold

Bulgaria’s first mine since the end of communism starts operating with a $165 million investment by Canada’s Dundee Precious Metals

Bulgaria’s new factories

Two-thirds of the largest investment projects are in Northern Bulgaria. The top investor is Germany

Pirates of the Black Sea

The seizure of a Libyan oil tanker by the Bulgarian authorities has drawn the country into an international scandal. The case has also shown how easily Bulgarian courts can be circumvented

Plovdiv is Culture

Bulgaria’s second largest city is co-hosting the European capital of culture in 2019. These are some of the program’s highlights

Meet the cities: The northern island

In spite of its infrastructure woes and the lack of large new investments, Varna remains a point of interest and a city full of subdued energy. It’s time to release that energy and support it.

When it walks like corruption, when it quacks like corruption

While the Bulgarian authorities appear to be cracking down on some allegedly corrupt officials and businessmen, oligarchic interests favored by those in power receive a significant economic boost