According to preliminary data from the National Statistical Institute, the Bulgarian economy continues to grow steadily in the third quarter of 2025. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 3.2% on an annual basis and by 0.7% compared to the second quarter, which indicates a continuation of the positive trend since the beginning of the year. During the period July-September 2025, the country produced 62.66 billion leva of GDP at current prices, or 9,755 leva per capita. Converted into foreign currency, this is 37.41 billion dollars and 32.04 billion euros. The gross value added (GVA) created in the economy reaches 54.8 billion leva. Services have the largest relative share - 68.8%, followed by industry (26.5%) and the agricultural sector (4.7%). Compared to the same period of the previous year, the share of the agricultural and industrial sectors is growing, while that of services is decreasing. The structure of GDP shows a strong role of domestic consumption and investment. Final consumption forms 75.6% of GDP, with individual consumption reaching 67.8%. Investments (gross fixed capital formation) account for 20.6% of GDP. The foreign trade balance is positive – 644.5 million BGN, i.e. exports exceed imports. According to seasonally adjusted data, final consumption increases on a quarterly basis by 1.5%, and gross fixed capital formation – by 1.9%. This highlights the activity of households and businesses. However, exports decrease by 1.3%, while imports grow by 3.6%. Gross value added increases by 2.8% compared to the third quarter of 2024. The largest contributions are made by: Real estate operations – +6.7%, Construction – +6.2%, Public administration, education, health care and social work – +5.9%, Information and creative products; telecommunications – +4.1%, Culture, sports and entertainment, etc. – +4.0%, Financial and insurance activities – +3.5% and Agriculture, forestry and fishing – +3.2%. A decline was recorded only in the group covering the extractive industry, manufacturing, energy and water supply – minus 1.7%. On an annual basis, exports of goods and services decreased by 5.6%, while imports increased by 4.1%. This indicates a certain cooling of external demand and increased domestic consumption.

According to preliminary data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI), in the third quarter of 2025, the gross domestic product (GDP) per employee increased in real terms by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2024. The total number of employed persons in the economy is 3,726.5 thousand, and the hours worked reach 1,467.5 million. The structure of employment by sector shows a slight increase in the share of services and a decrease in the relative share in the industrial and agricultural sectors. An average of 16,814.6 BGN of the current GDP falls on one employee, and 42.7 BGN per hour worked. The gross value added (GVA) per employee increases by 1.6%, and the average GVA per person-hour grows by 1.7%. Productivity by sector: Services: average 14,864.1 BGN GVA per employee and 37.9 BGN per man-hour, Industry: 16,629.7 BGN GVA per employee and 40.1 BGN per man-hour, Agricultural sector: lowest productivity – 4,959.8 BGN per employee and 13.6 BGN per man-hour The data show that the services sector continues to be the leader in employment, while the industry and the agricultural sector are characterized by a lower relative role in the economy. Labor productivity is increasing slightly in all sectors, with the highest remaining in industry and the lowest – in the agricultural sector.

There is also positive news for the capital market in Bulgaria, and this is evident in the explanatory notes to the draft law on the state budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2026. It states that it is proposed to make the non-taxation of profits from transactions on the growth market for small and medium-sized enterprises on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) beam permanent. “It is proposed to introduce a permanent equal treatment of income from transactions with financial instruments and from interest on bonds and other debt securities traded on a growth market with income from transactions with financial instruments and from interest on bonds and other debt securities traded on a regulated market through an amendment to the Corporate Income Tax Act and the Personal Income Tax Act,” the document states. Capital gains, that is, the realized positive result from transactions with securities on the regulated market in Bulgaria, are not taxed. The same applied to the beam market according to the pilot regime proposed in 2020 by the Ministry of Finance, with a term of validity from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025. It is now proposed to transform the regime into a permanent one, effective from 1 January 2026. “On ​​30 September 2025, the European Commission, within the framework of the Strategy for Savings and Investment Accounts, recommended that Member States introduce preferential tax regimes in order to stimulate retail investors to participate in the capital market,” the explanatory memorandum to . This decision also follows recommendations to take measures to support access to financing through the market, including considering the possibility of extending the tax relief for the growth market. They were made during the reviews of Bulgaria within the framework of the accession process to the Financial Markets Committee and the Corporate Governance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The beam market was launched in early 2021, and since then, until the end of last year, 19 initial public offerings of shares and bonds were carried out there, raising BGN 64.4 million. Several capital increases were also implemented on this market, with a total amount of funds raised of almost BGN 15 million. The main relief when offering shares on this market is that companies can do so without a prospectus confirmed by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). Initially, the maximum amount for an issue without a prospectus was EUR 3 million, and from 2022 it is EUR 8 million. To raise capital in excess of EUR 8 million, as well as to increase the capital by over EUR 8 million of a company already admitted to trading on the beam market, a public offering prospectus approved by the FSC is required, which, however, has a simplified form and content. An analysis by the Ministry of Finance, based on public data from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, shows that in 2023 the ratio of BEAM share transactions to share transactions on a regulated market is 0.03, and 0.06 in 2024. "In this sense, the non-extension of tax breaks for growth markets is not expected to lead to significant budget revenues, and at the same time the effect would be negative and would undermine efforts to develop the growth market as an alternative source of financing for companies with limited access to bank lending due to its short history," the explanatory memorandum to the draft budget states.

Trace Group Hold and GP Group, one of the major Bulgarian construction companies, together with the Turkish partner company Deutsche Inşaat Be Ticaret, signed a contract on December 2 in Bucharest for the construction of the metro in the Romanian capital. The value of the project is nearly 922 million euros. The section that the three companies will build is part of a large public procurement for the line between Gara de Nord and Gara Progresul, which is 14 km long and is divided into two lots, and is part of the fourth metro line in the Romanian capital. On October 17, 2025, a 28-kilometer section of the Ploiești - Buzău highway was also put into operation, which was again being built by Trace Group Hold. The section of the metro that the union of Trace and GP is starting to build is approximately 6.38 km long - from Gara de Nord to Eroii Revolutiei. It has 7 stations and 7 intermediate stations, and the connection with the already built metro line 4 will be made at Gara de Nord 2. The duration of the design and construction is a total of 60 months. According to sources in the Romanian media Gandhul, the offer of GP, Trace and Doush was 100 million euros more advantageous for the Romanians. The Turkish company Deutsche Insaat Be Tidjaret is also building in our country, as it owns the mole with which the subway tunnels in Sofia are dug. The two Bulgarian companies have also worked on the capital's metro. GP Group is also known for the implementation of projects such as the Zheleznitsa tunnel on the Struma highway, but also the renovation of the capital's Graf Ignatiev Street, which became infamous for poor execution. In 2024, the company reached nearly 243 million leva in revenue with 90 million leva two years earlier. The company recently completed the construction of the Luda Yana dam near Panagyurishte. Revenues in the consolidated report of Trace Group Hold for 2024 increase by 66% compared to 2023 and reach over 667 million leva. The growth is mainly due to the entry into the final phase of the project in Romania - the Ploiești - Buzău motorway (which formed over 50% of revenues), as well as the activities to implement several large infrastructure projects in the railway infrastructure in Serbia and the construction of the metro in Bulgaria. Trace Group Hold also completed a 28-kilometer section of the Romanian A7 motorway to Moldova. There are 20 bridge structures within the lot.

The manufacturer of automotive cable systems and electronic components "SE Bordnetze - Bulgaria" EOOD, part of the global company "Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze SE" (SEBN SE), will gradually cease its activities in Bulgaria as part of a strategic restructuring. Production at the Karnobat plant will continue until June 2026 only to fulfill existing commitments. After that, operational activities will be suspended until the end of the same year, and the complete closure of the site is planned for March 2027. According to preliminary data, about 800 jobs in Karnobat will be affected. The layoffs will be carried out in 2 stages and will be completed by March 2027. The company will offer the affected employees opportunities for reassignment within the group, as well as support for career transition and benefits upon termination of employment. "SE Bordnetze - Bulgaria" EOOD is part of the Japanese group "Sumitomo Electric Industries", which has over 380 subsidiaries and about 280,000 employees worldwide. SEBN SE's product portfolio includes solutions for both conventional and electric drives. The company was registered in 2008, namely in the city of Karnobat. In 2024, the company's revenues were over 180 million leva, and the profit - nearly 6.7 million leva. However, the trend in recent years is that the number of employees in the company is decreasing. If in 2017 they were nearly 4,000, at the end of last year the number of employees decreased to about 1,500. As of September this year, the number of employees is 885. In September 2024, the company already announced the phased withdrawal of production from Bulgaria, after closing its plant in Mezdra.

The insurance company of businessman Yordan Hristov - "European Insurance Company" (EIK) AD has reported an enviable growth in its revenues at the beginning of this year. It is due to an insurance contract concluded by the small EIK with the largest company in Bulgaria - "Lukoil Neftochim" for the risk of "Fire". The company's revenue from insurance against fire and other property damage alone for the first quarter of 2025 is 26.9 million leva, which exceeds the company's total premium income for the last 10 years. Together with credit and guarantee insurance, which are the company's main business recently, its total premium income as of June 2025 reaches 46.9 million leva, and its market share jumps from 0.2% (at the end of 2024) to 2%.

Kalina Milenkova is the new CFO and Managing Director of Siemens Mobility Bulgaria as of the beginning of December. Kalina has over 15 years of experience in finance, strategic business leadership and ESG-focused transformation within Siemens. In her current role as CFO of SmartInfrastructure for Siemens Bulgaria, she has led complex financial programs, supported digitalization and been an advocate for sustainability and responsible business practices.

The shareholders of Sopharma AD have voted on the interim dividend, which will be paid from the company's profit for the first half of the year. At an extraordinary general meeting held on December 5, amendments to the articles of association were also approved, which allow for an increase in the capital of the pharmaceutical company to over BGN 1 billion (EUR 552.2 million) in the next 5 years through the issuance of ordinary or preferred shares, convertible bonds and warrants. The company has already submitted prospectuses for three warrant issues, which are being reviewed by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). The shareholders first adopted Sopharma's financial statements for the first half of 2025. The voted gross dividend amounts to BGN 0.07 per share (EUR 0.03579). The dividend will start being paid from February 2, 2026, through Central Depository AD and Eurobank Bulgaria AD (Postbank).

Harisson Management Limited, Malta, has prepared an adjusted tender offer to purchase through investment intermediary ELANA Trading AD 1,481,625 shares, representing 9.564% of the capital and 9.615% of the votes in the general meeting of shareholders of Aroma AD, Sofia, from the remaining shareholders of the company. The Financial Supervision Commission has already approved the offer of Harisson Management Limited, owner of a total of 13,927,699 shares (89.904% of the capital and 90.385% of the votes in the general meeting of shareholders) in the cosmetics company on November 27. The Maltese company offers to purchase the shares of the remaining shareholders in Aroma AD at a price of BGN 1.85 per share. If the offeror acquires as a result of this or a subsequent tender offer at least 95% of the voting shares of Aroma AD, it will have the right, regardless of and without the consent of the remaining shareholders, to redeem all of their shares at the price offered in this or a subsequent tender offer, under the terms and conditions provided for in Article 157a of the Public Offering Act, and that this will result in the delisting of Aroma AD from the register of public companies maintained by the Financial Supervision Commission.

Non-financial corporations in the European Union have recorded the largest decline in their profit share in 2024. The profit share of businesses in the non-financial sector in the EU fell by 1.6 percentage points in 2024 compared to a year earlier, to 40.1 percent, according to the latest published data from Eurostat. The previous highest decline in the indicator in the EU since data are available (1999) was during the global financial crisis in 2009, when it fell by 1.35 percentage points. The profit share of non-financial corporations - whose main economic activity is not related to financial services - is defined as the ratio of gross value added to the gross operating surplus of the company concerned, the European statistics agency said. The indicator shows the share of value added created during the production process that brings profit to capital, not to labor. For comparison, in 2004, the profit share of non-financial corporations in the EU was 40.4 percent, and in 2007 - 42.1 percent. Despite the growth recorded at the beginning of the century, years of decline followed, taking the indicator in 2012 to its lowest value in the last two decades. During the pandemic - in 2021, the profit share of non-financial corporations in the EU increased to 42.1 percent, or 0.9 percentage points above the result of 2020. In the following years, a slight decrease to 41.9 percent in 2022, 41.7 percent in 2023 and a larger decrease to 40.1 percent in 2024 follows. Among EU countries, non-financial companies in Ireland (74.9 percent), Malta (56.4 percent) and Slovakia (48.9 percent) reported the largest profit shares in 2024. Ireland's leadership can be explained by the large foreign multinationals based in the country, which have high capital intensity. At the other end of the scale, with the lowest profit shares, were non-financial companies in France (32.2 percent), Slovenia (33.4 percent) and Portugal (34.5 percent). Bulgaria is the only EU country for which there is no data available on the profit share of non-financial enterprises in 2024 or 2023. In 2022, domestic companies from the non-financial sector had a profit share of 54.38 percent, which puts our country in third place among EU members - after Malta (58.17 percent) and Romania (54.72 percent).

Europe faces a total cultural collapse within the next 20 years, which is inevitable. The claim was made in the US National Security Strategy, which noted that Europe has economic problems, but said that they are “overshadowed by the real and harsher prospect of civilizational extinction” within the next 20 years, Politico reported. “The economic decline is overshadowed by the real and harsher prospect of civilizational obliteration. The larger problems facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational organizations that undermine political freedom and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating conflict, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, declining birth rates, and the loss of national identity and self-esteem,” the 33-page document published by the administration of President Donald Trump said. At the same time, the US side recognizes that “Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States.” “Transatlantic trade is one of the pillars of the global economy and American prosperity. European sectors, from manufacturing to technology and energy, remain among the most robust in the world. Europe is home to cutting-edge research and world-leading cultural institutions. Not only can we not afford to write Europe off – that would be self-defeating.” “We want to support our European allies in preserving freedom and security, while restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.” “We will oppose elite-led, anti-democratic restrictions on fundamental freedoms, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world, especially among our allies.” The strategy states that restoring “American energy dominance” (in oil, gas, coal, and nuclear power) and returning essential key energy components is a top strategic priority. "Cheap and abundant energy will create good-paying jobs in the United States, lower costs for American consumers and businesses, spur reindustrialization, and help maintain our edge in cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence," the document says. The United States will seek to expand its energy exports as a way to deepen relations with allies and limit the influence of adversaries. "We reject the disastrous ideologies of 'climate change' and 'zero emissions' that have so badly damaged Europe, crippled the United States, and subsidized our adversaries."

China's installed wind and solar renewable energy capacity has tripled in the past five years, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said, Xinhua reported. The country's installed renewable energy capacity has grown from 530 million kilowatt-hours in 2020 to 1.68 billion kilowatt-hours by the end of July 2025. This means that China's renewable energy capacity has grown by 28 percent per year over the period, according to the Chinese government agency. China has been steadily increasing its renewable energy supply, creating the world's largest and fastest-growing green energy system. Between 2021 and 2025, the installed renewable energy capacity has increased from 40 to about 60 percent, with wind and photovoltaic power playing a central role in the country's energy transition, according to the Chinese agency. The share of wind and photovoltaic energy in the Asian giant's total electricity consumption has increased from 9.7 percent in 2020 to 18.6 percent in 2024, corresponding to an average annual growth rate of more than 2 percentage points. Chinese patents for new energy technologies account for more than 40 percent of global patents in the field. Meanwhile, by the middle of this year, China's energy storage capacity had reached about 95 million kilowatts, an increase of almost 30 times in five years.