Bulgaria

0:24 – Introduction to the topics in the episode and guest Nikolay Vassilev, Managing Partner at Expat Capital, former Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria. 02:00 – News from Bulgaria 16:45 – Macro and Markets 25:45 – Fintech news 34:20 – Interview with Nikolay Vassilev 35:50 – Why after a career in investment banking and …

This week, the Council of Ministers approved the draft law on the state budget for 2020. It was announced by Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov as realistic, balanced and without surprises. Indeed, “without surprises” is an accurate definition – Budget 2020 carries the spirit of the same policy as in the preparation of the previous ones. But, fortunately, for …

Author: Georgi Georgiev The topic of the forcible seizure of property in the form of various taxes and levies is key to libertarianism (“taxes are theft”). If we take into account the skeptical attitude towards the way tax revenues are spent by most modern Bulgarians and the actions aimed at avoiding taxation, then the majority …

The lagging behind of most regions in the country compared to the major economic centers and the need for fiscal decentralization are topics that have been discussed for decades. Everyone knows that there is a problem and something needs to be done about it if we do not want Bulgaria to turn into a semi-desert with only a few large cities that …

(Click on the infographic for a larger size) Source: NSI Comment New NSI data show that industrial production fell for the third consecutive month in August by 1.33% year-on-year, compared to 1.03% in July. All major subsectors – mining, manufacturing and energy – reported a decline in August. More importantly …

Two years after the last attempt to remove the cap on cash payments, it is time to raise the topic again. But this time, not to remove it, but to increase it, or better yet, to remove it completely. The Expert Club for Economics and Politics recently published a report, …

Mass industrialization under central planning In his memoirs published after the fall of the Bulgarian Communist Party regime, Todor Zhivkov wrote that his government returned the gold reserve back to Bulgaria. This is perhaps one of the most notorious lies of the communist dictator. Contrary to Zhivkov's claims, in the 1960s …

Author: Natali Hristova Why are we even bothering with the Belene NPP when we can neither finance it nor need the electricity? Moreover, it is doubtful to what extent the EU will allow it, especially considering the use of old Russian technology in a seismic region and with a lack of diversification in the particularly important sector of …

When the idea of the Eurozone was actively promoted in the 1980s and 1990s, the main advantage of the future monetary union was the expected "convergence" or, in other words, the rapprochement that it would bring about between the different member states. The idea is that, through the shared currency, the economies of the different member states would …

(Click on the infographic for a larger size) Data source: NSI After a serious slowdown in growth in May, the latest NSI data show that industrial production and sales completely collapsed in June. Both production and sales are reporting record levels of decline for the last 5-10 …