ON WATCH
Bulgarian ministries will put 101 companies under special surveillance, the Cabinet decided on April 30. The companies are either majority state-owned or the state has a “golden share” in them, allowing it to block key decisions of the majority shareholders. The decision is aimed at tightening fiscal discipline at the companies, preventing them from straying from their financial targets, assessing their risk profile and ensuring they pay their taxes on time, the Cabinet media office said. Individual ministries will be given the job of tracking the financial and business health of enterprises, their business plans and overall performance.

TRAFFIC COSTS MUCH
Bulgaria loses more than two billion leva a year from traffic jams, according to estimates by the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency Agency (EEA), Bulgarian private broadcaster bTV reported on May 5. The EEA based its calculation on the fact that each Bulgarian lost almost an hour in traffic jams daily. If half that time were spent at work, Bulgaria would have generated an extra 1.2 billion leva a year. If that sum were to be distributed among workers, it would have been equivalent to a five per cent salary increase across the board. In addition, traffic jams incur 600 million leva in losses through spending on fuel. According to EEA executive director Tasko Ermenkov, cars waiting at traffic signals resulted in losing 200 tons of extra fuel and the emission of 0.5 million tons of greenhouse gases a day.

ECB REPORT
The European Central Bank (ECB) was due to release a report outlining the euro introduction pre-conditions for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden, Deutsche Welle reported on May 5. According to Slovak media, quoting excerpts from the leaked report, Slovakia would receive an invitation to adopt the euro as of January 1 2009, thus becoming the 16th member of the eurozone.

FUEL PRICE HIKE
LUKoil Bulgaria raised factory-gate fuel prices in line with dynamics on international oil markets, the company said in a statement. Petrol A-95 now costs 1.77 per cent more to 2 074.80 leva/1000 litres. Petrol A-98 sells at 2 184 leva a 1000 l, up 1.68 per cent; Eurodiesel by 1.36 per cent to 2238 leva a 1000 l.

SURPLUS HIGH
The Budget surplus hit 87 per cent of the annual target in the first quarter of this year, Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry said in a quarterly budget overview. As of end-March, the budget surplus totalled 1.08 billion leva. Tax revenues accounted for 4.1 billion leva, or 24.5 per cent of the planned 16.74 billion leva for the year 2008. Corporate tax proceeds alone amounted to 844 million leva or 39.7 per cent of plans. Revenues from income tax totalled 419.8 million leva (19.5 per cent of plans). VAT proceeds were 1.85 billion leva or 22.6 per cent of annual target and excise duty income at 854.7 million leva (22.5 per cent of plans).

PROBATION FOR SFA
The State Agriculture Fund has been put under an eight month “probation” period by the new Agriculture Minister Valeri Tsvetanov at the request of the European Commission, Tsvetanov said on April 30 2008 at his first news conference as a minister. The probation period will end on November 30, Tsvetanov was quoted as saying by Mediapool.bg. Marian Fischer Boel, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, sent a letter to Bulgaria on April 17 asking for the measure to be imposed, the news website said.

EC BIRCHES BULGARIA
The European Commission (EC) has started legal action against Bulgaria because of the country’s failure to timeously issue complex permits for various industrial plants, Bulgarian National Radio reported, quoting EC sources. No names were given, but sources said one was the Kremikovtzi steel mill. The EC is also taking action because the country has failed to meet its obligations to introduce legislation on environmental impact assessments, which are mandatory for a number of projects and activities within the European Union.

POOR VOLTAGE
E.ON Bulgaria Networks, CEZ Distribution and EVN Bulgaria blamed higher electricity consumption  and the construction boom  for the poor voltage in the power grid. Another reason was that supply was several times lower than demand because of the mass migration from central heating to electrically powered heating.

TRUSTEES TO RUN KREMIKOVTZI
Kremikovtzi steel mill will shortly be run by court-appointed trustees, a senior manager at the mill told Dnevnik daily on condition of anonymity on May 7. A court pronounced to this effect on April 30, he said. In her remarks on the ruling, judge Daniela Marcheva said that Kremikovtzi’s current liquidity ratio was 1.2, whereas the industry average was two. The quick liquidity ratio was 0.24, whereas its cash ratio was 0.00062.