Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria reached EUR 2.53 billion by the end of September 2025, according to preliminary data from the Bulgarian National Bank. This is an increase of 20.9% or EUR 437.8 million compared to the same period in 2024, when the net flow amounted to EUR 2.09 billion. In September alone, FDI amounted to EUR 473 million, compared to EUR 370.2 million a year earlier. Investments represent 2.3% of the estimated GDP, compared to 2% for the same period in 2024. The BNB emphasizes that the data are preliminary and the current result may change in subsequent revisions. The largest contribution to the net positive flows for January-September was made by the Netherlands (EUR 554.9 million), Italy (EUR 325.2 million) and Greece (EUR 317.1 million). The largest net negative flows are observed to the USA (EUR 150.5 million) and Luxembourg (EUR 76.5 million). Foreign investments in real estate remain negative – minus EUR 15.9 million, compared to minus EUR 7.1 million a year earlier. Equity is positive and reaches EUR 316.7 million for the nine months, significantly above EUR 20.5 million for the same period in 2024. Reinvested earnings amount to EUR 3.118 billion, compared to EUR 2.013 billion a year earlier. The flow on debt instruments is negative – minus EUR 901.3 million, compared to positive EUR 61.9 million for January–September 2024. Investments of Bulgarian companies abroad reach EUR 402.4 million for the nine months, compared to EUR 786.1 million a year earlier. In September, the net flow was 48.1 million euros, compared to 95.8 million euros a year earlier.

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 capital increase of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) by 4 billion leva, which was planned with the adoption of the 2025 budget, has been entered in the Commercial Register. The money comes from the debt taken on during the year, which significantly exceeds the set deficit and maturing loans, a practice widely criticized by experts as a de facto understatement of expenses in order to circumvent fiscal rules and keep the deficit within the allowed 3%. According to the latest data, as of September, the state-owned bank is the 12th largest in the country with just over 3.2 billion leva in assets. This means that after the capital injection, it will already have over 7 billion leva, which would shoot it up to seventh place. In addition, after the injection, the bank's capital will exceed 5 billion leva, which will cause its capital adequacy indicators (already the highest in the system) to jump to cosmically ineffective levels. The operation itself will also distort banking statistics as a whole, as the one-time boost will have to be adjusted when calculating growth and average indicators for the banking system.

The Ruse-based tailoring company "BTB Bulgaria" is ceasing operations and will leave the country, local media report. The company's employees have already been informed that they will be laid off after the New Year. Last year, the company reported a loss of 4.73 million leva, amid growing Chinese competition in the form of companies such as Temu and Shein, which are undercutting the market and directly impacting Bulgarian business. "BTB - Bulgaria" is one of the largest and most established tailoring companies in our country. The company, which is located in Ruse, has been sewing for world-famous brands for more than two decades, employing hundreds of families in the region. In addition to producing products for external partners, the Ruse-based company is also successfully developing its own brand "Vayana", which has stores in Bulgaria and abroad. In recent years, BTB has also built two new independent buildings - one for administration and one for production. This is one of the oldest foreign investors in Ruse, founded in 1998, and has been among the leaders in the industry for a long time. What is happening is another big blow to the sewing industry in the region this year. In the summer, another legendary local factory - "Arda" - also ceased operations.

The special manager of the Bulgarian assets of the Russian company Lukoil, Rumen Spetsov, has begun the changes in the companies. Spetsov has signed a decision dismissing Evgeni Manyakhin as chairman of the board of directors of Lukoil Neftochim Burgas. Spetsov has also withdrawn Manyakhin's authorization to represent the company. However, the special manager has left Manyakhin as a member of the company's board of directors. Evgeni Manyakhin, who is a Swiss citizen, became chairman of the board of directors of Lukoil Neftochim Burgas in 2023. This happened after the adoption of a package of EU sanctions against Russia, which prohibit Russian citizens from holding management positions at strategic sites in EU countries. At that time, the former head of the company, Ilshat Sharafutdinov, was reappointed as operations manager. So far, there have been no changes in the management of the gas stations Lukoil Bulgaria, the supplier of aviation fuel Lukoil Aviation and the ship fuel Lukoil - Bulgaria - Bunker.

Four candidates submitted bids in the public procurement for the construction of the last railway section from Gyueshevo to the border with North Macedonia with a length of 2.4 km and an estimated value of 114 million leva excluding VAT. The lowest price offer is from the "Gyueshevo 2025" consortium, in which "Trace Group Hold" and "VDH" participate - 97.97 million leva excluding VAT. The remaining three offers are over 100 million leva, with two being below the estimated value, and only that of the "European Station Gyueshevo 2025" DZZD is for nearly 139 million leva excluding VAT. The consortium includes "Parsek Group" EOOD, "Infra Rail Bulgaria" EOOD and PIMK OOD. The other two proposals are from "Geostroy" AD (nearly 111 million leva excluding VAT) and "Consortium Engineering Railway Infrastructure Sofia 2025" DZZD (113.7 million leva excluding VAT). The consortium includes "ZMBG" EAD, "Eurostill" EAD and the Chinese "Tianjin Oubaiwei Co." The foreign company is engaged in trade and insurance, has no experience in railway construction. The choice of contractor will be determined by the optimal price-quality ratio. The public procurement for the last 2.4 km from the railway station in Gyueshevo to the border with North Macedonia is for engineering - design and construction. In addition to the construction of the railway, the reconstruction of the Gyueshevo railway station, which will become a border passenger and freight station for Schengen, is also planned. The deadline for completion of the activities is by the end of 2028 for the entire section, except for the last 420 meters to the tunnel.

The Plovdiv company KCM celebrated two significant events on November 17. These are the 25th anniversary of the successful privatization and the repaid Japanese loan. And this is not just a symbolic gesture, but a key element in the history of the industrial rise and ecological restart of the metallurgical complex. In 1995, the team of the then state-owned KCM discussed the proposal of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for a loan of 5.955 billion yen. The money is used to modernize the zinc and lead installations, water purification, and reduce emissions. Engineers from Germany, Australia, and Japan are working on the project. After privatization in 2001, the KCM team has fulfilled all loan obligations. Over the years, the company has continued to invest hundreds of millions of euros in technology and expansion, including in mining.

Since the beginning of the year, the Plovdiv-based medical equipment manufacturer BTL Industries has been operating in its new factory in the city, which allows it to centralize all production processes under one roof, as well as to grow. The plant in Plovdiv is the only production base of the Czech group BTL. In addition, the company also has a development center in Sofia. A significant advantage that the company gains with the opening of its new plant in Plovdiv is the acceleration of the development process. With the opening of the new plant, in which the investment reached 100 million leva, BTL Industries has gathered all its production and logistics under one roof on an area of ​​29 thousand square meters. However, it is already getting cramped and therefore a new expansion is coming, which will be in the immediate vicinity of the current building. All of the company's activities related to forwarding and logistics will be moved to the new wing of the factory, which will allow the expansion of the existing warehouses by about 30%. The future new building plans to build automated warehouse solutions with a height of up to 7 floors. In recent years, BTL Industries has increasingly relied on the development of robotics in the medical sector, with the group employing around 40 people in this field, 10 of whom are in Plovdiv. Currently, the technology is mainly used in the field of physiotherapy. Robots are also used in production processes - for example, for painting elements, and it was entirely developed by the company for its own needs. At the same time, the staff is growing - from 670 people last year to 770 this year, and the goal is for the number to reach around 1,000 in the next few years. BTL Industries is a manufacturer of medical equipment for physiotherapy, cardiology, aesthetic medicine, etc. The plant in Plovdiv is the only production base of the Czech BTL group, which sells its products in over 100 markets. The company also has a development center in Sofia. For 2024, the company reports 634.9 million leva in sales, with 670 employees.

The public offering of shares from the capital increase of CB "Texim Bank" AD was successfully completed on November 14. The total number of shares offered for subscription was 7,000,000. Of these, investors subscribed and paid for 6,999,991 shares for a total value of BGN 20,999,973. The costs of the public offering amounted to BGN 22,245.

The general meeting of shareholders of "Holding Company DUNAV" AD - Vratsa will decide to terminate the company's activities and to initiate liquidation proceedings. It will be voted on at an extraordinary meeting of the holders of such shares, scheduled for November 20. As of the end of June, the company reported a loss of BGN 73 thousand, compared to a negative financial result of BGN 59 thousand a year earlier. In the first half of the year, the holding had no income. The expense part is BGN 73 thousand, compared to BGN 65 thousand for the same period in 2024. The holding does not carry out commercial and production activities. Holding Company "Dunav" AD has shareholdings only in Bulgaria. In the associated companies "Vratsa Style" AD - Vratsa and "Employment Company" OOD - Vratsa, it owns 8% and 1.49%, respectively. The main areas in which it has invested since its establishment are in companies focused on construction, mechanical engineering and the textile industry. The holding company has notified all partners of "Employment Company" that it is terminating its participation as a partner in "Employment Company" OOD, effective August 22, 2025. The last dividend that the company distributed was for 2021 - BGN 1,685 gross per share. The amounts are paid through the branches of "International Asset Bank" AD throughout the country until August 1, 2027, inclusive.

Higher growth in Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP), slowing inflation, but also a budget deficit that will be outside the 3% limit allowed for the eurozone. This is what the European Commission (EC) predicts in its autumn macroeconomic report. According to it, the Bulgarian economy will expand by 3% in 2025 and by 2.7% in 2026. For comparison, spring expectations were for 2% and 2.1% growth, respectively. Despite the high forecast for the three years, in 2027 economic growth will collapse to 2.1%. This is a result that Bulgaria has not reported since the years after the financial crisis in the US and Europe. The European Commission explains that the slowdown in growth will be due to lower consumption and investment due to the weaker contribution of public spending. In 2026-2027, a slowdown in private consumption growth is forecast in line with the slowdown in wage growth and social transfers. Private investment is expected to continue to support growth as business confidence improves in the context of joining the euro area.” The EC expects Bulgaria to meet the Maastricht criterion of a 3% deficit both this year and next. However, the state budget is prepared at a 3% deficit, although the revenues to cover the unprecedented spending once again look incredible. Expenditure continues to grow faster than revenues despite efforts to improve tax collection, the return to standard VAT rates for bread and restaurant services and the positive effect of wage growth in the private sector, the EC writes. According to them, public investment will be higher this year compared to 2024, reflecting the accelerated implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the planned deliveries of defense equipment. In 2026, the pressure from public sector wage and pension spending is expected to moderate, and defense capital spending will be lower, which will lead to a reduction in the deficit to 2.7%. This is not the situation in 2027. In 2027, against the backdrop of the second stage of planned defense equipment deliveries worth 1.2% of GDP and in the absence of compensatory measures, the deficit is expected to increase to 4.3%,” they warn. As for inflation, it will slow down after 2026. They also predicted the same in their spring macro forecast. However, food prices will remain high. Higher food inflation is explained by both higher import prices and rising labor costs for local producers,” the report says. Currently, the main contributor to high private consumption is double-digit wage growth. This is also confirmed by the EC, which states that wages have increased “significantly in most sectors in 2024 and the first half of 2025 due to adjustments due to high inflation in 2022-2023.” Wage growth is expected to slow down as inflationary pressures decrease and the private sector strives to maintain its competitiveness, while wage growth in the public sector is limited by fiscal space,” the institution warns. It predicts that unemployment in Bulgaria will fall below 4% this year,

Global refining margins hit multi-year highs in November due to sanctions on Russia, refinery outages and maintenance, according to data from LSEG and analysts cited by Reuters. The wide profit margins contrast with crude markets, which are under pressure from an expected oversupply, defying expectations earlier this year that the margin boost could be short-lived due to the impact of tariffs. In the United States, the 3-2-1 spread, a key measure of overall profitability, held steady at $32.13 a barrel on Nov. 18, near an earlier peak that was the highest since March 2024. Asian margins eased slightly from a 20-month high, while gasoline spreads were near their highest levels since early 2024. The 3-2-1 spread is a theoretical measure of a refinery’s profitability, representing the difference in price between processing three barrels of crude oil and the value of the resulting products – two barrels of gasoline and one barrel of distillate similar to diesel fuel. Plants were shut in the United States and Europe. Nigeria’s Dangote refinery underwent repairs, while others in Asia and the Middle East, such as the largest Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait, experienced disruptions. Global refining profitability rose to its highest level on average in two years in early November, the IEA said. Oil companies, some of which warned earlier this year that 2025 would be a bad year for refining, benefited from stronger margins in their third-quarter profits. French giant TotalEnergies’ profit in its refining and distribution sector jumped 76%, and recent U.S. sanctions on Russian producers Lukoil and Rosneft will push up refining margins and oil prices in the fourth quarter, Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyan said. At the same time, structural diesel shortages persist in Europe, and recent regional refinery closures will exacerbate import requirements, the IEA said. In a report, U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley said it expected European diesel shortages to remain above $27 a barrel for the next six months, higher than they have been for most of the year since the start of 2024, according to LSEG data. In the US, margins also hit new highs. US diesel margins rose to $49.12 a barrel on Tuesday, the highest level since October 2023.