GDP PROJECTIONS
The Finance Ministry revised its forecasted GDP for 2008 up to 64.9 billion leva from 61 billion leva, Dnevnik daily said on July 28. GDP is seen at 72.23 billion leva for 2009.

COMPANY LOANS
Prices of company loans above one million euro have registered the highest increase to date in the past year, Bulgarian National Bank data said. A company could finance a project worth 20 million euro at an interest rate of 7.9 per cent in June 2007, while a year later, it had to pay 23 per cent more. The average interest rate offered by banks for a project of that scale in 2008 is about 9.7 per cent.

STABLE
The credit outlook for the Bulgarian banking system remains stable, although there are concerns over future asset quality as a result of past rapid credit growth and increasingly challenging funding conditions, Moody’s Investors Service said in its latest report on the Banking System Outlook for Bulgaria, published on July 25. Banks are facing increasingly challenging funding conditions due to both intense competition domestically and the rising uncertainty in the global financial markets, the report said.

E-SIGNATURES
The company System for Electronic Payments Bulgaria (SEP) became a supplier of certificates for electronic signatures. The Communications Regulation Commission registered the company as a supplier of certificate services on July 28. SEP Bulgaria received a licence from the Bulgarian National Bank to be an operator of a payment system in 2007. It will be the fifth issuer of electronic certificates in the country together with Information Services, Bankservice, Info Notary and Spectrum.

TOP PRODUCT
On July 28, Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) reported a 70 per cent increase in its Top Deposit product, only a month after the launch in June 2008. Top Deposit offsets the inflation by paying the interest rate upon opening or at periods picked by the customer. The depositors get a further five per cent interest in a promotion running until September 30 2008.

CREDIT LINE
ProCredit Bank signed a 14.5 million euro credit line agreement with the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank on July 29. The money will be distributed over three grants with three-year terms each and will go to small and medium-sized companies. This is the third credit line agreement between the two banks.