SOFIA - Bulgarian private gas firm Overgas, which is half-owned by Russia's Gazprom, said yesterday it was ready to invest some $545 million in developing Bulgaria's natural gas market. "Overgas plans to invest $544.5 million until the year 2000," Sasho Donchev, Overgas' executive director said in an interview. Gazprom's guaranteed supplies, its experience and know-how will help Overgas develop the country's gas market, where current gas consumption comprises just seven percent of total energy consumption, Donchev said. Apart from Gazprom's 50 percent stake in Donchev's firm, Bulgaria's powerful business conglomerate Multigroup holds 25 percent and the remaining 25 percent belongs to Overgas.
The firm is expecting parliament to adopt a concession law soon, giving opportunities to investors to carry out activities in the gas sector because the state's investment funds are limited, he added. Overgas, which held its first general meeting with Gazprom shareholders last week, plans huge investments to construct new transiting gas pipelines and to widen existing ones in the light of Bulgaria's plans to become a gas distribution centre on the Balkans.
Bulgaria, which lacks natural resources, has a transit network of more than 2,000 kilometres. A gas pipeline has linked Bulgaria to Russia through Romania since 1974. For the last eight years another pipeline has linked Bulgaria with Turkey for Russian gas supplies. A further pipeline is planned to link Bulgaria with Serbia and experts have started preparing this project. Bulgaria expects to start distributing Russian gas to its Balkan neighbours Greece and the ex-Yugoslav republic of Macedonia by the end of the year through newly-built pipelines.
A state energy official, who declined to be named, said Overgas could take over the role of a Bulgarian-Russian gas joint stock company Topenergy, set up in May to transit Russian gas to Balkan countries. Topenergy, jointly owned by Gazprom and Bulgaria's state-run Bulgargas, has not begun activities due to disagreements between Gazprom and Bulgarian government officials. Donchev, who is also a member of the Topenergy board, said some of the projects included in Overgas' business plan could be carried out by Topenergy.
The Overgas business plan for the next five years includes investments in expanding the country's Chiren gas storage facility, enlargement of compressor stations for regulating incoming gas volumes in Bulgaria and building a gas operation centre. The firm is currently projecting and building gas supply systems for households in five municipalities and plans to start supplying its first household consumers by the end of the year, Donchev said.
SOFIA - Economic developments in Bulgaria are encouraging, Jahannes de Beaufort Wijnholds, Executive Director of the Netherlands Constituency Group of the IMF, told a press conference at the end of a three-day visit to Bulgaria, reported BTA. The visit was aimed at clarifying Bulgaria's position at the forthcoming talks with the IMF on a fourth standby arrangement. During his stay in Sofia, Wijnholds met with Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev, Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov, the leaders of the central bank, cabinet ministers and politicians.
Bulgaria still faces important problems which the authorities are very well aware of, Wijnholds said. According to him, the forthcoming discussion with the IMF will focus on the passage of the 1996 budget and the economy's structural adjustment. He is reasonably optimistic as to the conclusion of the arrangement, although he thinks the talks will be difficult. The IMF mission will draw a report on Bulgaria's economy in 1995 to be discussed by the IMF Executive Board in December, Wijnholds told the press conference.
Experts of the IMF mission arrived in Sofia yesterday, to be joined on September 11 by IMF Mission Leader for Bulgaria Russel Kincaid. Parallel to the review of the Bulgarian economy, consultation will begin on a new arrangement between the Fund and Bulgaria.
SOFIA - Bulgaria's Balkanbank supervisory board appointed a new management board late on Wednesday, which replaced the previous board of directors, bankers said. "The supervisory board elected five new members to the management board," the Bank Consoliodation Company (BCC) chairman Dimitar Dimitrov said. The BCC, which manages state equity in commercial banks holds some 73 percent of Balkanbank's capital.
The management board includes Nadezhda Apostolova - chairman and executive director, Maria Koteva and Katia Ivanova - executive directors, Vladimir Yordanov and Dimitar Shumarov. The transformation of Balkanbank's board of directors into a two-tier management system was approved at the bank shareholders' meeting on September 4. The new governing bodies of the bank said in a statement that they "will preserve and improve Balkanbank's policy towards its clients and foreign partners".
SOFIA - Greater political stability in Bulgaria would help attract sorely-needed foreign investment into the country, an official of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on yesterday. "So far foreign investment in Bulgaria has been disappointing but we hope that with more political and economic stability and the necessary legal reforms the investment climate will improve," Rainer Geiger told a seminar in Sofia.
Political instability has been a key deterrent to foreign investors in Bulgaria and Russia, while other ex-communist nations like Hungary and Poland have fared better, he added. Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises is an effective way of facilitating the transition of a centrally-planned economy, said Geiger, who works in the OECD's Directorate for Financial, Fiscal and Enterprise Affairs.
Small and medium-sized enterprises often have difficulties tapping sources of financing and more information should be provided to foreign businessmen to invest in them, he said. The OECD, which is based in Paris, is cooperating with the Bulgarian government on ways of speeding up the process of economic reform, Geiger told delegates. The two-day seminar, which is held in Sofia's Sheraton Hotel and ends today, is being attended by OECD and Bulgarian officials and by representatives of the private sector.
SOFIA - Bulgaria and the European Union launched a joint parliamentary committee on Wednesday designed to forge closer cooperation on a range of economic and political issues. "The association of Bulgaria with the EU is a fundamental and irreversible priority of the country in line with its national interests," said Blagovest Sendov, speaker of the Bulgarian parliament, in a statement.
Some ten visiting members of the European Parliament joined Bulgarian colleagues for the first session of the new committee, held at the National Assembly in Sofia. Foreign Minster Georgi Pirinsky, who also attended the session, told reporters Bulgaria hoped to prepare a national strategy for integrating its economy with the EU over the coming months. Bulgaria formally became an associate member of the EU on February 1 this year, a step it hopes will lead to full-fledged membership in due course.
SOFIA - The governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Todor Valchev said yesterday his term ends on January 10 next year and asked parliament to appoint a successor. "My term expires on January 10, the five years have elapsed... I would like to quietly leave the bank...I will definitely not accept a second term... it is time to elect a new governor," Valchev told reporters. He said he has asked parliament to appoint the next governor before the end of his term, so that he will be smoothly introduced into his responsibilities.
Valchev has led the central bank since January 1991, when Bulgaria began its transition to market economy and signed its first funding agreements with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Most likely the new governor would be elected after the local elections on October 29, said Valchev.
SOFIA - The Central Electoral Commission continues to register parties and coalitions for entry in the October 29 local elections, reported BTA. Three new applications were filed yesterday. The major parties represented in parliament have not yet filed their papers.
ROUSSE, Bulgaria - The Danube Shipping Inspectorate of Rousse has notified the prosecutor's office and the occupational safety inspectorate of a grave violation of the safety of navigation on the River Danube by the Dounav Ragers private company, whose vessel for extraction of aggregate from the river bed sailed for two months without a licensed master, BTA reported.
VARNA, Bulgaria - The new specialized flying eye clinic of the New York-based international charity Orbis landed in Varna, the local BTA correspondent reported. The physicians will be performing exhibition operations in the course of three weeks.
SOFIA - "Neither speeding nor bumps and potholes in the carriageway caused the August 11 crash of a military truck outside Sofia, in which 14 servicemen were killed," Colonel Kiril Gogev, head of the Sofia District Armed Forces Prosecutor's Office and in charge of the investigation, told BTA. He did not specify, however, what most probably led to the collision of the truck with a tractor. Colonel Gogev said that more than 25 eyewitness statements have been taken and five expert examinations carried out. The investigators can be expected to release their findings soon.
SOFIA - The Bulgarian Committee for Balkan Understanding and Cooperation declared itself against NATO's air raids in Bosnia, reported BTA. The Committee said in a declaration that this step was taken hastily, before clarifying the circumstances surrounding the incident in Sarajevo.
SOFIA - Bulgarian Brady bonds were mostly flat from Wednesday on the international sovereign debt market yesterday, traders said. Collateralised Discount Bonds (Discs) were bid at 50.0 and 50.125 cents, slightly firmer on Wednesday's 50.0 cents. Discs were offered at 50.5 and 50.625 cents, slightly softer from Wednesday's 50.625 cents. Interest Arrears Bonds (IABs) bids firmed to 44.0 and 44.125 cents from 43.875 cents. IABs were offered at 44.375 and 44.5 cents, slightly off Wednesday's 44.5 cents. Front Loaded Interest Reduction Bonds (FLIRBs) were bid unchanged at 25.5 and 25.625 cents. FLIRBs offers were also flat at 26.25 and 26.375 cents.
SOFIA - Oversupply of lev funds continued to dominate trade on the Bulgarian money market but dealers said they saw a possible relief if financial institutions directed part of the free funds to the forex market. "The market is still overliquid though there were signs that levs were invested more actively in dollars yesterday," a commercial bank dealer said. Forex market dealers said that the Bulgarian lev softened to around 68.10 per dollar at noon from 68.03 at Wednesday's close due to the high lev liquidity which prompted dollar purchases. Interbank deposit rates were steady around their support levels of 3.0-3.3 points over the central interest rate (CIR) which is now set at 34 percent annually.
SOFIA - The Bulgarian lev closed at 68.13 per dollar, firming on early morning levels of 68.15 on dollar sales for profit taking on the interbank forex market, dealers said. "The morning rise of the dollar was stopped by dollar sales for profit taking around 68.15 levs as more operators started to offer dollars at that level," a commercial bank dealer said. Current high lev liquidity in the banking system prompted active dollar buying until mid-morning but later the lev gained to 68.10-68.13 per dollar, dealers said. The lev eased also due to the longer period to settlement for yesterday's spot deals, dealers said. These deals are to be settled for on Monday, enabling operators to profit on high yield lev deposits over the weekend. Dealers said that they expect the lev to edge up today, trading in a range between 68.05-68.15 against the dollar.
24 Chasa Newspaper - Bulgaria will sign a fourth stand-by loan agreement with the IMF at year-end at the earliest, Prime Minister Zhan Videnov said after talks with visiting IMF executive director Johannes Wijndholds.
24 Chasa Newspaper - Balkanbank's Supervisory Board appointed a five-member Executive Board of Directors, a banking official said.
24 Chasa Newspaper - Parliament passed at second and final reading a defence draft bill, under which the Bulgarian army will have the right to set up insurance companies.
Pari Newspaper - Russia's foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev arrived yesterday on a two-day official visit to Sofia.
Pari Newspaper - Railway fares will rise from January 1996 if the Bulgarian State Railways (BSR) company does not get a nine billion levs subsidy from the budget, Angel Dimitrov, BSR director said.
Pari Newspaper - The Bank Consolidation Company, which manages state equity in commercial banks, considers state-owned Hebrosbank or Expressbank to be the next institutions to merge, possibly with at least two private banks under a second round of bank consolidation
Troud Newspaper - Direct foreign investments in small and medium companies in Bulgaria amount to some $80 million with Greece ranking first, Daniela Bobeva, chief of the Foreign Investment Agency said.
Kontinent Newspaper - The Privatisation Agency has offered the government that schemes for mass and cash privatisation of state enterprises be merged, officials said.
Pari Newspaper - Next week the Privatisation Agency will present a list of enterprises with an initiated divestiture procedure which will be put up for sale against investment vouchers, said Dimiter Stefanov, Chairman of the Agency's Supervisory Board.
Douma Newspaper - Mass privatisation threatens to create a huge speculative market of securities, compared to which the recent collapses of the Ponzi schemes in Varna will be child's play. Bulgarians' traditionally dominant egalitarian dispositions are strong and will have an immense influence on the pace and possibility to privatise, given the poor preparedness of public opinion in this country, the article says.
ROMANIA
Capital Newspaper - Romanian securities companies plan to get involved in mass selloff scheme by placing privatisation coupons in companies to go private.
Romania Libera Newspaper - French-British consortium GEC Alsthom to invest $10 mln in joint venture with General Turbo SA turbine maker.
Adevarul Newspaper - Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu told a seminar on foreign investment in Romania on Wednesday that year-on-year inflation target for 1996 was maximum 20 percent.
Vocea Romanei Newspaper - Romanians will make money not by selling privatisation coupons but by swapping it for shares which will yield money.
SLOVAKIA
Hospodarske Noviny Newspaper - Royal Dutch/Shell said it had invested about 300 million crowns in Slovakia in the last two years and planned further investment mainly to extend its network of petrol stations.
Hospodarske Noviny Newspaper - Slovakia and Hungary will attempt to solve problems conected with controversial Gabcikovo dam in bilateral talks on a political level to avoid involving the International Court in the Hague in the case.
POLAND
Gazeta Wyborcza Newspaper - During a press conference summing up his five-year term, President Lech Walesa said that Poland must enter NATO and the European Union.
Rzeczpospolita Newspaper - The American shop network Office Depot Inc. is to open during the next few days its first shop in Europe, in Janki near Warsaw. The investment cost $8,5 million.
Nowa Europa Newspaper - Four of the five scenarios for the privatisation of the remaining state-owned commercial banks will require special legislation to merge or group together individual banks.
Zycie Warszawy Newspaper - A new offer of cooperation with the Polish automobile industry will introduce representatives of General Motors, which plans to build an Opel factory and to invest in Polish car factories.
RUSSIA
Sevodnya Newspaper - President Boris Yeltsin has prepared a draft decree ensuring the access of tax bodies to the currency accounts of the debtors to solve the dramatic situation with the payments to the federal budget.
1USD = 1.4736 DEM
1USD = 1.2116CHF
1USD = 98.34 JPY
1USD = 5.0741 FRF
1USD = 10.3640 ATS
1GBP = 1.5519 USD
1USD = 68.081
1GBP = 105.46
1DEM = 46.119
1CHF = 56.098
1ATS = 6.5541
100JPY = 69.104
ENGLISH LANGUAGE MOVIES IN SOFIA
Evropa Palace, 34 Alabin St. - Caspar (Kristina Richie, Bill Pullman, Eric Idol - 13, 15, 17, 19), While You Were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock, Peter Gallegher , Bill Pullman, Glynis Johnes, Jack Warden - 20.45)
Modern Theatre, 26 Maria Luisa St. - Bad Boys (Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Tea Leoni - 14.30, 17, 19.30)
Vlaikova, 19 Tsar Ivan Asen St. - Bethoven (13.30, Sat-Sun - 12), Rob Roy (Jessica Lange, Liam Neeson, Eric Stolz, John Hurt, Tim Roth, Brian Cox - 15, 17.30, 20)
Serdika, Levski Sq. - Don Juan de Marco (Faye Dunaway, Geraldine Pailhas, Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando - 14, 16, 18, 20)
Novo Kino Slaveikov, Slaveikov Sq. - Richie Rich (10.30, 13), Johnny Mnemonic (Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren - 15), Rob Roy (17, 19.30)
Iztok, across from hotel Pliska -Caspar (13, 15, 17), Don Juan de Marco (19, 21)
Urvich - Corrina, Corrina (Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Layotta - 15, 17, 19; Wen-Thur - cinema closed)
Rex, Vitosha Blvd. - Don Juan de Marco (14.30, 16.30, 18.30, 20.30)
Globus - Bad Boys (10.30, 14.30, 19.30), Funny Bones (Oliver Platt, Lee Evans, Richard Griffits - 17)
Vitosha, Patriarch Evtimii Blvd. - cinema closed
Levski, 30 Janko Sakazov St. - While You Were Sleeping (10.30, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21)
Drive-in cinema, at the back of NDK building - Sliver (Sharon Stone, William Baldwin - 10-12 September - 21.30), Outbreak (Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Donald Sutherland - 13-14 September - 21.30)
Dom Na Kinoto, 37 Ekzarh Josiff St. - summer vacation in August
NDK, Hall 11 - Rob Roy (14, 16.30, 19; Monday 7 p.m. and Tuesday - cinema closed)
WHEATHER
Sofia 20°C
Plovdiv 23°C
Bourgas 25°C
Varna 22°C
Russe 19°C
Vidin 18°C
Petrich 21°C
Today: The weather will destabilise, due to cold air moving from the north-west. In the afternoon the cloudiness will die out and the country will enjoy sunny weather. Lows: 19 to 24 °C. Highs: 25 to 27 °C. In Sofia: low of 21 °C, high of 27 °C.
Friday: Cloudy and rainy in eastern Bulgaria. Cloudiness will develop in the western regions.
Europe: Italy and Spain will enjoy sunny weather. Rainy and cloudy conditions are forecast for the rest of the continent.