Bulgaria ranks first among the eurozone countries in terms of inflation, according to data from the National Statistical Institute and the European statistical office Eurostat. The National Statistical Institute announced that annual inflation in Bulgaria at the end of October was 5.3%, while the average inflation for the eurozone countries for this period was 2.1%. This means that inflation in the country is more than twice as high as the average for the eurozone countries, which it will join from January 1, 2026. Inflation in Bulgaria of 5.3% is calculated based on the consumer basket, while inflation in the eurozone is calculated based on the consumer basket of the European Union countries. Measured using the EU consumer basket, inflation in Bulgaria is slightly lower - 3.8 percent.

From January 1, 2026, the Republic of Bulgaria will switch to the euro as its official currency. This event brings with it a number of administrative and legal obligations for all commercial companies, which must bring their activities into line with the new currency and the requirements of the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria (ZVERB). The main requirements for companies are to update the corporate documents - articles of association, statutes and company agreements must be changed so that the capital and shares are denominated in euros. Companies have 12 months after the introduction of the euro (until 31.12.2026) to make these changes. Announcement in the Commercial Register - the updated documents are submitted with the first subsequent application for entry or deletion. If such does not occur, the company should submit an application on its own initiative. No fee is due for the entry of changes related to the conversion of capital. For companies that do not bring their documents into compliance with the law on time, fines between 400 and 5,000 leva are provided. In order to protect the rights of shareholders and partners, the Law guarantees that the currency conversion will not affect the rights of shareholders and partners. The amount of their participation remains unchanged, regardless of the capital conversion. Special mechanisms and features:

- Joint-stock companies - in case of differences arising from the currency conversion formula, the values ​​are reflected in the accounting as profit or loss from previous years. - Limited liability companies (LLC)

- there is no clarity regarding the rounding of shares. The law allows for an increase in capital up to 5% under a simplified procedure in order to preserve the rights of partners.

- New minimum capitals - for joint-stock companies the minimum capital becomes 25,000 euros, and for LLCs - not less than 1 euro. The minimum value of one share or share is one euro cent.

Plot of 111 decares with a newly built 4.9 MWp photovoltaic plant (56 decares) and an adjacent free plot (55 decares) with development potential at a key location in the city of Blagoevgrad

The Insurance Supervision Department of the FSC announced the results of the supplementary pension insurance activity for the first nine months of 2025. As of September 30, 2025, the participants in the funds managed by the PIC totaled 5,145,105 people, of which 5,104,453 were insured persons in the pension funds, 32,143 were persons receiving deferred payments and 8,509 were pensioners (2 in the professional and 739 in the voluntary pension funds, and 7,768 in the funds for the payment of lifelong pensions). During the first nine months of the year, the total number of participants in the funds increased by 48,868 people or by 0.96 percent. As of 30.09.2025, the total amount of net assets of all funds under management of the companies is 30,029,532 thousand BGN, of which 29,685,925 thousand BGN are the net assets of pension funds, 343,607 thousand BGN of funds for making payments. The amount of net assets under management of PICs increased during the first nine months of the year by 3,305,336 thousand BGN or by 12.37 percent. The net assets of universal pension funds have the largest relative share in the net assets of all funds - 86.91 percent, followed by professional pension funds - 6.43 percent and voluntary pension funds - 5.45 percent. Fourth place in the ranking is occupied by deferred payment funds with a relative share of 0.62 percent, ahead of funds for the payment of lifelong pensions with 0.52 percent and the voluntary fund under professional schemes with 0.07 percent. The total number of insured persons in the four types of pension funds as of 30.09.2025 is 5,104,453 people, increasing compared to 31.12.2024 by 38,320 people, or by 0.76 percent. As of 30.09.2025, the net assets of the pension funds are worth 29,685,925 thousand BGN. Compared to 31.12.2024, the net assets of the pension funds increase by 12.03 percent. Gross receipts from social security contributions to pension funds in the first nine months of 2025 totaled 2,466,783 thousand BGN and increased by 13.20 percent compared to the first nine months of 2024. The number of persons receiving payments from the payment funds as of 30.09.2025 was 39,911, of which 7,768 were pensioners and 32,143 were persons with deferred payments. These are persons who were insured in the universal pension funds and have reached retirement age. In the first nine months of 2025, the payment funds paid out 13,145 thousand BGN for pensions, 121,953 thousand BGN for deferred payments to insured persons and 610 thousand BGN to heirs of pensioners and persons who received deferred payments. The average amount of pensions paid in the first nine months of 2025 was BGN 236.12, and the average amount of the deferred payment was BGN 515.80.

For almost a year now, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the concessionaire of the Sofia Airport "SOF Connect" have been negotiating the payment of the concession fee. The revenue from concessions for 2026 in the budget of the Ministry of Transport is 59.4 million euros. A significant part of them is from the full concession fee of "Vasil Levski" Airport. "SOF Connect" received a 10-year deferral for the payment of the concession fee due to the coronavirus pandemic in the last days of the Boyko Borissov government in the spring of 2021. The Sofia Airport reported significantly better indicators for 2024 than the pre-COVID 2019 - more passengers and aircraft served and an increase in revenue. "SOF Connect" paid an advance of over 660 million leva to the state for the 35-year concession. For the first 5 years, the concessionaire had to invest 72 million euros. No information has been publicly presented on how much money the company has invested so far. According to the signed concession agreement, the remuneration is 32% of the total revenues for the respective value or just over 24.5 million euros per year, depending on which of the two values ​​is higher. Due to the crisis in the aviation industry caused by the coronavirus, SOF Connect received a deferral for the payment of about 250 million euros - the concession fee for the first 10 years. This amount will have to be paid in the last 10 years of the contract, i.e. payment to begin in 2046. Last year it became clear that for the first three years of the concession, SOF Connect owes over 79 million euros to the state, which will be paid in two equal installments in the period 2046 - 2048. It is expected that by the end of the year the concessionaire will say whether it is willing to begin paying a concession fee and in what amount from 2026.

The mayor of the city proposes that the Municipality of Plovdiv launch a procedure for the sale of its shares in four companies, including Municipal Bank, Plovdiv University Hospital, Free Zone – Plovdiv and Obelos Plovdiv. The Municipality of Plovdiv owns 24,748 shares (0.28%) of the capital of Municipal Bank AD, 96,425 shares (6.86%) of the capital of Plovdiv University Hospital AD, 261,546 shares (85.47%) of the capital of Free Zone – Plovdiv AD and 2,501 shares of the capital of Obelos Plovdiv AD. The arguments for this are that despite reported profits – BGN 27.3 million for 2023 and over BGN 8–9 million annually before that, Municipal Bank does not pay dividends, and Plovdiv's share is too small to influence the decisions of the General Meeting. The municipality's share has decreased from 23.17% to 6.86% in the capital of the University Hospital "Plovdiv" after capital increases over the years. The hospital has never paid dividends, and the municipality has no instrument to influence management. Obelos Plovdiv AD is de facto inactive and its last published report is from 2010. The municipality has not received dividends, and the company has not been active for years. The municipality has actually received dividends from the Free Zone - Plovdiv - but they are inconsistent and decreasing. The highest was in 2020 - 176,112 leva, and the last - for 2023 - only 34,197 leva. The company plans to expand and invest its own profit, rather than paying dividends. "Free Zone - Plovdiv" AD managed to survive as a municipal company for 9 years and 5 months. "Free Zone - Plovdiv" has a plot of land of 44.3 decares with built-up warehouses and buildings on 24 decares, and next door there is another municipal plot of just over 17 decares.

The Council of Ministers approved additional funding of BGN 1.14 million for the maintenance of the Discoverer supercomputer located in Sofia Tech Park. The decision was made at a meeting of the Council of Ministers and provides for an increase in the state's shareholding in the capital of Sofia Tech Park AD through changes to the budget of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth for 2025. This is the second such decision this year. In October, the government already allocated nearly BGN 4 million to cover the operating costs of the supercomputer for the next year. The total investment in Discoverer for 2025 exceeds BGN 5 million. The Bulgarian Discoverer supercomputer is a unique machine for Eastern Europe with a performance of the order of petaflops. In April this year, it successfully underwent a modernization process, becoming the first of the European Union's EuroHPS network to be upgraded since its launch in 2021. After the modernization, Discoverer+ has a new class of functionalities, including modern graphics processors and expanded memory. The machine's performance has been significantly increased, and it itself is now specialized for working with artificial intelligence, training neural networks, large language models, creating digital twins and other complex computational tasks. To date, Discoverer has participated in over 80 projects. It is open for use by the public and private sectors and is aimed exclusively at civilian applications, with its main goal being to stimulate scientific activity in Bulgaria and help increase the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy.

Increasing production efficiency from 65% to 80%. Reducing the consumption of electricity used for production by about 10%. This is the one-year result of the introduction of a system for overall equipment efficiency by the company "GoodMills Bulgaria". The company - owned by the Austrian LLIEuromills, produces about 50 types of flour under the brand "Sofia Mel", intended for industrial customers and for retail sales. In September 2024, "GoodMills" invested half a million leva to install photovoltaic panels with a capacity of nearly 190 kWp. The company partners with agricultural producers mainly from Northwestern Bulgaria, from whom it buys grain. Part of the cooperation also includes planting honey-bearing flowers in agricultural fields to feed bees. The project is developing successfully in the village of Bardarski Geran near Byala Slatina. In recent years, GoodMills Bulgaria has invested over 6 million euros in a major modernization of the company's production facilities, reconstruction of the mill building, introduction of the automation, monitoring and control system supplied by the Swiss company Bühler, implementation of an ERP system, modernization of laboratory equipment. The mill is located on an area of ​​50,000 sq m, 2 km from the center of Sofia. The company produces about 50 types of products under the Sofia Mel brand, which are intended for industrial customers and for retail sales. Over 20 types of products are offered in the retail network, including various types of spelt and rye flour, for pizza and kozunaci at home, as well as banitsa crusts. According to the company, the Sofia Mel flour is the market leader in terms of both volume and value in consumer packaging. GoodMills Bulgaria is owned by the Austrian LLIEuromills. The company produces various types of flour under the brand name "Sofia Mel", with the mill located in the capital. For 2024, sales are 117 million leva, and 107 people are employed.

A private bailiff is making a second attempt to sell a fruit and vegetable canning workshop, along with a boiler room and a warehouse in the village of Kalekovets. The starting bid price, from which the bidding will begin, is 1,452,540.52 leva /742,672.17 euros/, including VAT on the tax base, which constitutes 80% of the assessment. The price also includes all the workshop equipment with machinery and equipment. The owner of the property and equipment is “Mutafchiev 57” EOOD. The company is a debtor in an enforcement case due to debts to two banks. A lien has been imposed in favor of one bank for 228,067.92 leva – principal, plus interest and fees.

At its meeting on 18.11.2025, the FSC decided: 1. Approves Ivelina Ivanova as a person to head the compliance function at "GRUPAMA INSURANCE" EAD and, respectively, at "GRUPAMA LIFE INSURANCE" EAD. 3. Issues a permit to a management company (MC) "Karoll Capital Management" EAD, Sofia, for the transformation of the mutual fund "Advance Emerging Europe Opportunities" through merger into Class A of Karoll - Advance Emerging Europe Opportunities, a sub-fund of Karoll SICAV, managed by the MC Waystone Management Company (Lux) S.A. 6. Suspends proceedings in connection with the issuance of an approval to a new manager of the investment intermediary "Alaric Securities" OOD.

The budget deficit of the eurozone countries as a whole in the second quarter (April-June) of 2025 amounted to 2.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), which is the level of the indicator for the previous three months, according to preliminary data from the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat. And for the same period last year, i.e. in April-June 2024, the indicator was 3.1% of GDP. According to EU requirements, the maximum value of the budget deficit should not exceed 3% of the GDP of the respective country. In the EU as a whole, the budget deficit in the second quarter of this year was 2.9% of GDP, compared to 2.8% of GDP in the first quarter and 3% of GDP in the same period last year. And public debt in countries using the single European currency rose to 88.2% of GDP in April-June, from 87.7% of GDP in the first quarter and for the same period a year earlier. In the EU as a whole, public debt is slightly lower than in the euro area, but continues to grow - it reached 81.9% of GDP, compared to 81.5% in January-March 2025 and 81.2% - for the second quarter of last year. According to the requirement for EU countries, public debt should not exceed 60% of the country's GDP. In the second quarter of 2025, the largest budget deficits among EU countries were recorded in: Romania (8.7% of GDP), Poland (8.5%) and France (5.4%). The largest budget surpluses for the quarter were achieved in: Cyprus (3.6%), Denmark (2.9% of GDP) and Greece (2.7% of GDP). With the highest government debt to GDP ratio in the EU at the end of June 2025 were: Greece (151.2%), Italy (138.3%), France (115.8%), Belgium (106.2%) and Spain (103.4%). The lowest debt was recorded in: Bulgaria (26.3%), Estonia (23.2%), Luxembourg (25.1%) and Denmark (29.7%). According to the final Eurostat data for 2024, the budget deficit of both the euro area and the EU as a whole decreased slightly for the year, to 3.1% of GDP. At the end of last year, according to final data, the ratio of government debt to GDP in countries using the single European currency was 87.1%, compared to 87% at the end of 2023. And for the entire EU, the indicator at the end of 2024 was 80.7%, compared to 80.5% at the end of the previous year.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in August as imports fell the most in four months, government data showed. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services shrank nearly 24% to $59.6 billion from July, the Commerce Department said. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected a deficit of $60.4 billion. Imports fell 5.1% in August, while exports rose slightly. The figures are not adjusted for inflation. The U.S. trade deficit widened a month earlier as companies increased imports of goods and materials before President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on the country’s trading partners. The large monthly swings in trade since the start of the year have led to similar volatility in the government’s measure of economic activity, gross domestic product. Before the August data, the Atlanta Federal Reserve had forecast net exports would contribute 0.57 percentage points to third-quarter GDP. The decline in imports was driven by a sharp decline in inbound shipments of non-monetary gold, the department added. Imports of capital goods, including computer accessories and communications equipment, also fell. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the goods trade deficit narrowed to $83.7 billion in August, the smallest since late 2023.

China is Hungary’s most important economic partner outside the European Union, with 31% of all Chinese investment in Europe going to the country last year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Péter Szijjártó announced. If all ongoing or planned investments are completed, Chinese capital in Hungary will exceed 30 billion euros. This would place Chinese companies in second place among the largest investor communities after German firms. Hungary already has its largest trade turnover outside the EU with China, which largely contributes to maintaining the competitiveness of the economy despite the unfavorable European environment. Last year, four of the five largest Chinese investments in Europe went to Hungary. Since the beginning of 2025, seven Chinese projects have contributed to almost half of the total investment value for the year. China, South Korea and Japan together account for almost 80% of the total 4 billion forints ($10 billion) of new investments secured last year. Over the past eleven years, the Hungarian state has supported 72 Chinese investments worth around 2 billion euros. As a result, investments worth over 15 billion euros and around 30,000 new jobs have been created. Among the most significant Chinese investments in Hungary are the CATL battery plant in Debrecen worth 7.3 billion euros - the largest investment in the country's history, the BYD electric car plant and numerous other projects in energy, infrastructure and high-tech. However, some experts also see problems. Chinese investments can in some cases carry the risk of technological dependence, and generous subsidies to companies in certain sectors distort competition - not to mention concerns about Beijing's geopolitical ambitions.