In September 2025, the trend of stronger growth in bank loans to households (by 20.9% compared to a year earlier) relative to the growth in deposits (by 13.1%), data from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) show. At the end of September, deposits of the non-government sector in the Bulgarian banking system amounted to BGN 151.706 billion (69.1% of GDP), with their annual increase being 13.2% after growth of 11.8% in August. Deposits of non-financial enterprises amounted to BGN 51.123 billion (23.3% of GDP), increasing on an annual basis by 12.9% after their increase by 9.9% in the previous month. At the same time, deposits of financial enterprises increased by 18.8% on an annual basis after an increase of 13.9% in August 2025, reaching BGN 4.311 billion (2% of GDP). At the end of September, deposits of households and NPISHs (Non-profit organizations serving households) amounted to BGN 96.272 billion (43.8% of GDP), increasing on an annual basis by 13.1% after a growth of 12.7% in August. At the same time, loans to the non-governmental sector in the ninth month of 2025 amounted to BGN 114.289 billion (52% of GDP), increasing on an annual basis by 15% after a growth of 14.1% in August. According to BNB data, loans to non-financial corporations increased in September by 9.7% on an annual basis after an increase of 8% a month earlier, reaching 51.32 billion leva (23.4% of GDP). Loans to households and NPISHs in September 2025 amounted to BGN 53.675 billion (24.4% of GDP), and compared to the same month of 2024, they increased by 20.9% after an increase of 20.8% in August 2025. In September, housing loans amounted to BGN 30.8 billion and increased on an annual basis by 27.6% (with an annual increase of 27.4% a month earlier), while consumer loans in the ninth month of 2025 amounted to BGN 20.941 billion and were 13.5% above the levels of September 2024 and after their increase of 13.6% in August 2025. In September 2025, loans granted to financial enterprises amounted to BGN 9.294 billion (4.2% of GDP), growing by 13.6% year-on-year after increasing by 13.2% in August 2025.

Sofia takes another step towards completing the Sofia Ring Road (SOR). The Sofia Municipal Council (SOC) has voted to transfer 26 new municipal properties, falling within the territory of the Krasna Polyana district, to the state. This move aims to provide the terrain for one of the most important missing sections, connecting Lazurna and Kievska streets with the Struma highway. The SOC’s decision declared 24 land properties from public to private municipal ownership, with a total of 26 private municipal properties being transferred free of charge to the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA), as the project has been declared a site of national importance. This decision is the second major step taken by the SOC for a large-scale transfer of municipal lands. Just a month ago, the Sofia Municipal Council voted to transfer the first large group of 86 municipal properties to the state. These properties, located in the Vitosha, Ovcha Kupel, Krasna Polyana and Lyulin districts, were also part of the efforts to secure the first stage of the route. The missing section of the SOP has a total length of about 8.5 km and connects the Buxton and Lyulin neighborhoods. The first stage, for which the properties now being transferred are needed, is about 6 km long, covering the route from Lazurna and Kievska streets to the Struma highway. The SOP decision brings RIA closer to finalizing the procedure and launching the public procurement for the development of the technical design and construction and installation works.

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 United States imposed additional sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil on October 22. According to the list published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), these are 34 subsidiaries. Rosneft is a vertically integrated energy company specializing in the exploration, production, refining, transportation and sale of oil, natural gas and petroleum products. Lukoil is engaged in the exploration, production, refining, marketing and distribution of oil and gas in Russia and internationally. All entities owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, by Rosneft and Lukoil are blocked under E.O. 14024, even if they are not designated by OFAC. All property and interests in the property of the designated or blocked persons that are located in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. All entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more of the designated persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempted, OFAC regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons in or within (or transiting through) the United States that involve property or interests in property of designated persons. Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal sanctions on U.S. and foreign persons. OFAC may impose civil sanctions for sanctions violations on a strict liability basis. Financial institutions and other persons may be subject to sanctions for engaging in certain transactions or activities with designated or otherwise blocked persons. Foreign financial institutions that engage in or facilitate significant transactions or provide services involving Russia’s military-industrial base, including all persons blocked under E.O. 14024, are subject to OFAC sanctions. Engaging in certain transactions involving designated persons may subject the foreign financial institution involved to secondary sanctions. OFAC may prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintenance in the United States of a correspondent or payment account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates a significant transaction on behalf of a person designated under the relevant authority. The strength and integrity of OFAC’s sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to identify and add individuals to the SDN list, but also from its willingness to remove individuals from the SDN list in accordance with the law.

The draft budget for 2026 is expected to have a large deficit, but with the expected increase in the minimum wage, new record levels of remuneration are expected in the boards of state-owned companies. With a possible increase in the minimum wage to 1,213 leva from January 1, the maximum salary of executive directors of state-owned companies will already approach 22,000 leva. The salaries of executive directors are calculated according to a formula depending on a series of indicators, and there is an upper limit - it cannot exceed 18 times the minimum wage. With a minimum wage of 1,077 leva for 2025, the maximum was 19,386, with the expected increase in the minimum wage to 1,213 leva, the limit jumps to 21,834 leva. The salary limit for ordinary board members. is 6 minimum wages or salaries up to 7278 leva from 2026. In 2022, the OECD published a special report on the models for calculating remuneration and the levels achieved for executive directors and management and supervisory boards in state-owned companies in 36 countries. Out of a total of 22 countries that provided data, Bulgaria was in the top five in terms of high annual salaries of ordinary board members, with a level of 125% compared to the average annual salaries in the country. In addition to receiving high salaries compared to the average annual salaries in the country, members of the boards of state-owned companies in our country are among the few who are entitled to bonuses depending on the results. These are the so-called bonuses, which are given when profits increase and there are no uncovered losses or overdue debts. Only 6 out of 36 countries provide for such additional incentives, and in addition to Bulgaria, the group includes Chile, the Czech Republic, Peru, the Philippines and Slovakia. In absolute terms, the salaries of the CEOs of Bulgarian state-owned enterprises are low compared to other countries. However, if the levels are measured against the average salaries in the country, we are closer to the middle. The OECD has very serious requirements for substantiating the need for the existence of state ownership, guaranteeing the rules of fair competition and the legal form under which state-owned companies should function. The organization is fundamentally against the creation of special legal forms for the existence of state-owned enterprises and recommends adhering to general corporate law, as well as transforming enterprises established under special laws into ordinary commercial companies, if they primarily carry out commercial activities or into administrative structures, if they pursue more public goals. In implementation of this policy, Bulgaria has been trying to adopt a program for the transformation of state-owned enterprises established under special laws since 2022, and has not succeeded. This list includes a total of 16 state-owned enterprises, including NRIC, RVD and ports, and state-owned forestry enterprises. By law, these enterprises cannot declare bankruptcy, some of them are explicitly prohibited from taking on debt or issuing guarantees. Many of them do not carry out commercial activities for profit. By law, these state-owned enterprises are both traders and not commercial companies. The most recent analysis for transformation prepared for this purpose was updated a few days ago by the Zhelyazkov government. The government explained how it does not see a need to transform the majority of enterprises regardless of the opinion of the OECD and insists that the legal form of these enterprises does not prevent this and there are other countries in which state-owned companies exist under special laws. The case of the Bulgarian Sports Totalizator is interesting, as according to the latest concept of the cabinet, the company performs mainly commercial activities and will be transformed into an EAD within 36 months. The Kabiyuk State Enterprise was also evaluated as an enterprise that was initially assessed as performing mainly public functions, and subsequently - exactly the opposite - with mainly commercial activities. Within one reporting year - 2024, the DKK was managed by a total of 5 executive directors. There were intentions to transform some of the existing enterprises, such as forestry, into separate economic entities, which were also dropped. Thus, for most of the 16 special enterprises created by laws, the latest version of the program provides for maintaining the status quo.

At the beginning of the week, it became clear that the long-standing headquarters of Siemens in Bulgaria has been sold. The gross floor area (GFA) of the building is on a property with an area of ​​9,661 sq m, located on Kukush Street in the Zaharna Fabrika residential area, and is six floors high. The sale was registered on October 8, and the buyer is West Park Properties EOOD, with the selling price of the building together with the property and three smaller auxiliary buildings being nearly 13.4 million leva. The headquarters of Siemens and Siemens Mobility will move to the newly built NV Tower 2 (NV Residences - ed. note), located on G. M. Dimitrov Blvd., near the intersection with Dragan Tsankov Blvd. The new building will house Siemens employees in the capital, who number about 320. Together with those from the offices in Plovdiv, Varna and Ruse, their number in the country exceeds 420. Siemens' realized revenues for 2023 and 2024 are BGN 115.5 and 114.8 million, respectively. Net profit is also close - BGN 9.9 million (2023) and BGN 9.7 million (2024). "West Park Properties" was registered in August this year, and the sole owner of its capital is "Bravo Hold A" with ultimate owner Assen Lisev. The new company has managers he and Miroslav Stefanov. Assen Lisev is the owner of the consulting firm MBL and is one of the investors in the office project Office X Business Garden in "Hladilnika". The complex is positioned as high-class office space (Class A) and will consist of 4 buildings. The other investor is Spas Shopov, a partner at Roslin Capital Partners. Miroslav Stefanov has stakes in various commercial companies. It is impressive that he was in the management of Modus Plovdiv and Mirkal Invest. The former was acquired by the latter (and subsequently merged into it) in 2019, and the ultimate owners are the brothers Alexander and Ivan Asenov from the Plovdiv-based Huss group, which is mainly engaged in metal trading and construction.

Last spring, Aurubis Bulgaria launched a large-scale 4-year investment program for 400 million euros with a project to expand the refinery - increasing capacity by 50%, which will allow the Pirdop plant to process all its raw materials into pure copper, adding additional value to its output. The program will increase energy efficiency and reduce electricity consumption in traditionally energy-intensive production. Replacing old electric motors with new ones alone will reduce their consumption by 28% and will lead to savings of 25.5 thousand MWh per year. The plant will produce more of its own green electricity with the construction of two more solar parks, after launching its first photovoltaic plant a few years ago. This will bring the total capacity to about 40 MW. With the so-called motor project for the modernization of electric motors at the plant, the replacement of equipment actually begins in 2022, at this stage affecting low-voltage motors (5.5 kW to 800 kW). The phased replacement of the motors is currently underway, and of the 460 units designated for replacement, 285 will be replaced with the latest IE5 class, and the rest with IE4. This part of the project is expected to be completed by the end of next year. From 2027, the company will begin replacing the medium-voltage motors, which will take about 2 years, and in the third stage, it is planned to replace the smallest but most numerous motors. The plant uses hundreds of electric motors in various applications - from pumps, fans and compressors, to mixers, mills and conveyors, to gas fans and cooling towers. The plant consumes 55-60 MWh of electricity per hour. Following the replacement of the motors, Aurubis will save 2.7 million euros in electricity, or 2.9 MWh per hour (a total of 25.5 thousand MWh per year). The saved carbon emissions are estimated at 12.5 thousand tons per year. According to ABB, the project for the new motors will pay for itself in just 3.5 years from the saved electricity. In 2028, a new type of circuit breakers is due to appear on the market, which can only operate in the presence of arc protection, which Aurubis will have fully implemented by then. With them, the response time in the event of a short circuit will drop to 25 microseconds. Since 2016, 40.5 million euros have been invested in the reconstruction and complete replacement of equipment under the master plan, with 85% of the activities completed. Another 28.3 million euros are to be invested by 2030.

Industrial Zone "Zagore" announced a tender for the sale of a land plot with an area of ​​36,060 sq. m in the village of Elenino, intended for the construction of a warehouse. The minimum tender price is BGN 1,804,645 excluding VAT, and the deposit for participation in the competition amounts to BGN 180,464.50. Candidate buyers must undertake not to change the intended use of the property within 10 years, to begin construction in it no later than 18 months from the date of conclusion of the contract and to create no less than 30 jobs in the constructed site and maintain them for a period of no shorter than 5 years. The minimum investment in the site is BGN 20 million. The minimum building density is up to 80%.

"EURO INVEST MANAGEMENT" AD announced the issuance of ordinary, dematerialized, registered, freely transferable, interest-bearing, unsecured, non-convertible bonds in the amount of 25,000,000 (twenty-five million) euros, with a term of 7 years (84 months), interest - floating annual interest rate equal to the sum of the 6-month EURIBOR + a surcharge of 3.00% (300 basis points), but not more than 8.00% per annum, interest payment frequency: every 6 months - 2 times a year. Principal amortization - first and second - grace period without principal repayments. From the third to the seventh year - payments on the principal are made in 10 (ten) equal installments, each worth 2,500,000 (two million and five hundred thousand) euros, due on the dates of each 6-month interest payment. The funds raised from the issue will be used by "EURO INVEST MANAGEMENT" AD for the acquisition of minority and majority stakes in commercial companies and investments in the development of their activities, optimization of the capital structure of the holding, acquisition of real estate and their development, investments in financial assets and instruments, including receivables and repayment of liabilities, including for the repayment of those related to the placement and admission to trading of the issue.

Germany faces a budget deficit of more than 140 billion euros by 2029 and ministries will have to make spending cuts despite forecasts of higher-than-expected tax revenue over the same period, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said, quoted by Reuters. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government backed a 500 billion euro spending plan in March to stimulate growth in an economy battered by the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it also raised questions about how it would be financed. The plan is expected to bring in 33.6 billion euros more tax revenue in 2025-2029 than previously forecast, after the tax council revised its forecast for total tax revenue to a 0.7 percent increase to 5.17 trillion euros for the period. However, the 2028 budget still faces a shortfall of around €60 billion, and the 2029 budget deficit is more than €60 billion, the state secretary said. Europe’s largest economy contracted for a second straight year in 2024, becoming the only G7 economy to fail to grow in the past two years. But the government, which expects growth of just 0.2% this year, predicts the economy will rebound to 1.3% next year and 1.4% in 2027, supported by government spending.

The world is drowning in debt — and not just in a nominal sense, but in a structural, systemic, geopolitical sense. The latest news from the United States — the crossing of the threshold of $38 trillion in national debt — is just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is that the world as a whole is heading towards a record level of indebtedness, which exceeds 330% of global GDP. The American case is symbolic, because the United States is the economic heart of the world, the dollar is the reserve currency, and American bonds are the backbone of the financial system. But in reality, the debt problem is global. The eurozone, Japan, China — each of these economies carries its own debt burden, with different manifestations but similar essence. Europe has an average government debt of about 90% of GDP, with Italy over 140%, France and Spain over 110%, and Germany — for the first time in decades — has exceeded 70%. Japan stands at its extreme: over 250% of GDP, making it the most indebted developed economy on the planet. China, although with a lower official government debt (about 80%), has huge hidden liabilities in provincial governments and state-owned enterprises - according to estimates by the Institute of International Finance, China's total debt exceeds 290% of GDP. Countries are living with debt that will never be repaid. And while a decade ago the idea of ​​"sustainable debt" was accepted as temporary, today it is an official strategy. Central banks simply have no way out - they must keep the system in balance through a constant flow of liquidity, low real interest rates and control over bond yields. Otherwise, the whole structure would collapse under its own weight. This creates a paradox. The world is trying to grow using the same tool that, in the long run, undermines growth. Debt today is not an engine of productive investment, but a way to avoid recession - a form of deferred pain. And as often happens in history, the accumulated pain suddenly returns. If we look at the structure of the US debt, we will see that over $ 8 trillion is already maturing within a year. At an average interest rate of about 5%, this means hundreds of billions of dollars a year just for refinancing. At the same time, the Federal Reserve holds a significant part of the bonds and, through quantitative tightening programs, is trying to reduce its balance sheet. This creates a double pressure: the market must absorb more debt just as the central bank is exiting its role as a buyer. This dynamic is not sustainable - sooner or later the market will demand higher yields, and this will affect not only the US, but the entire world. In Europe, the situation is more diverse, but no less worrying. Italy and France are literally hanging on the edge of fiscal discipline, with any increase in debt interest rates risking sending them into a spiral of new borrowing. Germany, long a symbol of fiscal austerity, is now itself increasing spending on defense, energy transformation, and social support. The European Central Bank is in a delicate position: if it keeps interest rates high, it risks a recession; if it lowers them, it stimulates inflation and weakens the euro. China, on the other hand, is struggling with a different kind of debt crisis — structural, not nominal. The vast majority of its debt is in the shadows — local governments have financed construction projects and infrastructure with credit, with no real return. As a result, the economy looks stable on the surface, but at its core there is a mountain of non-performing loans. This model is already starting to crack — the slowdown in China is not cyclical, but structural. When might this lead to a global debt crisis? Probably not tomorrow, but certainly not far in the future. The real danger is not a sudden collapse, but a build-up of tension that gradually exhausts the effectiveness of monetary policy. Central banks are trapped today: every rate cut keeps the bubble alive, and every rate hike threatens to burst it. This is a state of “financial gravity zero” in which the world moves but not forward. And when growth begins to slow, as we are already seeing, balance sheets become increasingly difficult to maintain. There is a real risk of another global recession, caused not by a lack of confidence in the system but by the system itself. If the US continues to increase its debt at a rate of over $2 trillion a year, while Europe and Japan cannot stimulate real growth and China loses momentum, world GDP will begin to “stretch” only nominally – through inflation and debt, not through productivity. This is a path that leads to stagflation - a combination of low growth and high prices, in which investors retreat from debt and countries struggle to refinance it. In this scenario, the probability of another debt shock in the next five years increases. We do not need to see a total bankruptcy of a country like the United States or Japan - it is enough for the market to start losing confidence in debt as a safe asset. In this situation, even a small drop in demand for US bonds can shoot up yields by 1-2 percentage points, which will mean hundreds of billions of dollars of additional costs and will trigger a global reaction. Debt is not just an accounting quantity, but a collective projection of the future. It expresses the extent to which societies believe that tomorrow will be rich enough to pay for today's comfort. The problem is that today this optimism is starting to run out. When interest rates on government bonds exceed the growth rate, the math is reversed: the system cannot sustain itself without new doses of liquidity. This is the beginning of the end of “easy money,” but also of the illusion that debt is an infinite resource. The most dangerous thing about this situation is that societies have become accustomed to the idea that debt is normal. That countries can always manage it because they have the tools and the central banks. But history shows that crises come precisely when people begin to believe that they cannot happen. After a decade of record fiscal stimulus and monetary expansion, the next crisis will probably not be catastrophic, but debilitating — a slow, cumulative decline in productivity, real incomes, and confidence. Debt is a delayed tax on the future. And the more we accumulate it, the more we eat into the growth we have not yet achieved. The world is entering an era in which the numbers seem big, but the possibilities are ever smaller. And this, perhaps, is the clearest sign yet that a debt crisis is no longer a matter of “if,” but only of “when.”