20.04.2021
JUMBO OPENS 11 NEW STORES IN ROMANIA
Greek toy retailer Jumbo will open at least 11 new stores in Romania over the next five years, expanding its network to 25 stores.
This year, the retailer aims to open a new 12,500-square-meter hypermarket in the southern city of Craiova and launch its online store, according to its 2020 financial report, quoted by SeeNews. For 2022, Jumbo has set a goal to open two new stores in Romania.
The company, which generates an annual turnover of 150m euros, reported a gross profit of 84.4m euros in Romania in 2020, up from 75.4m euros a year earlier.
Jumbo's sales in Romania represent about 24.51% of the group's turnover in 2020. The Romanian market generates 31.4% of the company's total profit before taxes, financial and investment results.
The company is investing 35m euros in its first warehouse in Romania, which covers an area of 75,000 square meters.
At the end of 2020, Jumbo had nearly 1,500 employees in 14 hypermarkets in Bucharest, Timisoara, Oradea, Arad, Ploiesti, Pitesti, Constanta, Suceava, Bacau, Braila and Brasov.
The company operates 80 stores in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania and two online stores in Greece and Cyprus at the end of 2020.
Continental is investing 300m euros in Romania
German carmaker Continental has invested 150m euros in Romania in 2020 and plans to invest the same amount this year.
Key investments last year included a new office building for the Timisoara R&D center and the completion of an extension to the Iasi office building, a Continental statement quoted SeeNews as saying.
In 2020, the company installed a new trigeneration system at its electronic components factory in Timisoara and upgraded equipment at its tire plant in the Romanian city. Funds have also been invested in the renovation of its engineering center and electronic components factory in Sibiu, as well as the ContiTech factories in Karei, Nadab and Timisoara.
Continental has over 20,000 employees in engineering centers and production facilities in Romania. They work in international teams on key trends in the automotive industry: connectivity, autonomous driving and electric mobility, using artificial intelligence and large databases.
All 5 divisions of the company are represented in Romania. Continental has 7 manufacturing plants and 4 engineering centers in Timisoara, Sibiu, Carey, Nadab, Brasov and Iasi. The German company is a partner in two joint ventures in Iasi and Slatina and has a tire distribution center in the capital, Bucharest.
Continental has more than 230,000 employees and is the fourth largest tire manufacturer in the world with tens of billions of euros in annual turnover. The company also manufactures braking systems, internal electronics, automotive safety, chassis drives and components, tachographs, tires and other parts for the automotive and transportation industries. Its customers are all major manufacturers of cars, trucks and buses.
Ford produces a new car in Romania every 67 seconds
Ford expects record daily car production at its plant in Romania this year, with only 67 seconds needed to produce each of the new cars.
More than 1,000 Puma and EcoSport vehicles will be assembled every day at the company's factory in Craiova. This means that a new car will come off the assembly line every 67 seconds, Ford Romania said in a statement quoted by SeeNews.
Ford's engine plant will also reach a new record of about 1,700 engines produced per day. The company is currently assembling three versions of the one-liter EcoBoost unit in Craiova.
From October 2019, Ford's Romanian factory is assembling two compact SUVs - Ford EcoSport and the new Ford Puma.
SUVs are still the fastest growing segment in Europe. A total of 5.9 million SUVs were registered in 2019, an increase of 10% compared to 5.4 million units registered in 2018, according to Ford.
The new Ford Puma is already available in all European markets where the company is present, and from the first half of this year the model, assembled in Craiova, will be exported to Australia - the first vehicle made in Romania to be sold in this market.
Ford has invested more than 1.5 billion euros in Craiova since 2008, reaching a total of 6,300 employees in the two factories - for car assembly and for engines.
About 3400 of the employees in question have been hired in the last 3 years to support the production of the new EcoSport and Puma models. As the production of both models is constantly increasing, the employees of the car assembly plant in Craiova for the first time worked in 3 shifts.
On February 26, 2021, Ford shut down production at its Craiova plant for eight days due to a shortage of semiconductors worldwide. "During the eight days that production has stopped, employees at Ford's Craiova plant will be paid according to agreements between the company and the unions, taking into account current legislation," said company spokeswoman Anna Maria Timis. in February, Labor Minister Raluca Turcan announced that Romanian carmaker Dacia, part of France's Groupe Renault, had stopped production for three days for the same reason.
19.04.2021
A "MAINTENANCE SALARY" IS OFFERED IN THE SEWING COMPANIES
This week Bulgaria is involved in a large-scale campaign to improve working conditions and pay in clothing companies.
It is part of an initiative by the International Organization of Industrial Workers around the world to mark eight years since the tragedy that toppled the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh. Thousands of workers died and were injured then.
In Bulgaria, the sewing industry officially employs more than 80,000 people. They are severely affected by the covid crisis.
The campaign is entitled "Tailoring factories and tailoring workers need safe places to work," Tsvetelina Milchalieva, chairwoman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Light Industry at CITUB, told BNR.
"One of the direct dependencies in labor productivity is working conditions."
The covid crisis had a serious impact on the sewing industry. The main companies that place orders in Bulgaria are from Germany and France. "At the moment, they have stated that they may keep 30% of what they order as standard," the unionist said.
The federation insists on the introduction of the so-called "maintenance salary" in the sewing companies. "They have been on the minimum wage for years, and in many cases this is something that puts them below the poverty line."
Negotiations with employers for a branch contract for the garment industry with a focus on income are forthcoming.
15.04.2021
COMPETITION FOR EXTERNAL CONTROLLERS FOR THE FIRST LEVEL OF CONTROL OF PROJECTS UNDER THE TERRITORIAL COOPERATION PROGRAMS
The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works announces a competition for selection of external controllers and for their inclusion in databases for implementation of first level control (FLC) of Bulgarian partners in projects under the multinational programs for territorial cooperation and technical assistance under CBC INTERREG programs -IPP, the costs under the contracts for implementation of FLC under the cross-border cooperation programs INTERREG V-A Romania-Bulgaria 2014-2020 and INTERREG V-A Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020 for the period 2014 - 2020.
The full text of the announcement is published on the website of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works https://www.mrrb.bg in the Careers section.
The application deadline is May 17, 2021. The documents should be submitted in person or through a proxy in the building of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW), Directorate for Territorial Cooperation Management, Sofia, 17-19, St. St. Cyril and Methodius Street.
15.04.2021
GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO STARTED WORK IN MARCH
In March 2021, the number of unemployed who started work was 6,917 more than in February of the same year, reaching 25,147, according to the data from the administrative statistics of the Employment Agency, the Agency announced.
A total of 433 people are from the group of pensioners, students and employees, who have also found their new jobs through employment offices. Despite the restrictions and closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, labor demand increased during the month, according to the Employment Agency.
A total of 78 percent of those who started working in March are employed in the real economy, most of whom are employed in the manufacturing sector - 21.5 percent, followed by trade - 13.9 percent, hotels and restaurants – 10.5 percent, general government - 8.9 percent, agriculture, forestry and fisheries - 7 percent, construction - 5.4 percent, human health and social work - 4.5 percent, etc.
The data show that 5520 unemployed people from the risk groups were employed in subsidized jobs during the month - 801 under employment programs and measures and 4719 - under schemes of the Operational Program "Human Resources Development" (OP HRD). The "Employment for you" scheme under the HRD OP, which started in July 2020 as an anti-crisis measure, has provided employment to a total of 18,695 people, and only in March employment contracts were concluded with 4,067 new unemployed.
The administrative statistics of the Employment Agency report a decrease of 0.4 percent of the registered unemployment compared to the previous month. The decline on an annual basis is by 0.2 percentage points - from 6.7 percent in March 2020 to 6.5 percent at the end of March this year. The registered unemployed in the labor offices are 214,052, which is 11,229 less than in February and 6,020 less than in March 2020.
During the month, 25,179 new unemployed people were registered in the labor offices, which is 282 more than in February and 13,690 less than the number of newly registered in March 2020.
Another 687 people from the groups of jobseekers, students and retirees also registered with the Employment Agency during the month. In order to preserve employment, the anti-crisis measures for short-term employment support continue to work - the well-known "60/40" and the project "Short-term employment support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic" under the OP HRD.
In March, nearly 160,000 employees were supported under these measures. The Save Me measure, funded by the HRD OP and the React-EU financial mechanism, to support employees in forced unpaid leave imposed by the suspension of a number of economic activities in order to control the COVID-19 pandemic, provided funds during the month. 50,000 employees.
The demand for labor is growing, as the declared jobs on the primary labor market in March were 18,452 or 4,983 (37 percent) more than the previous month.
The largest share of vacancies in the real economy is in manufacturing (26.7 percent), followed by hotels and restaurants (13.9 percent), trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (10.5 percent), government (9.5 percent), rural, forestry and fisheries (9.1 percent) and administrative and support service activities (6.3 percent).
The most sought after professions during the month are:
- staff employed in the field of personal services;
- staff caring for people;
- drivers of motor vehicles and mobile equipment;
- machine operators of stationary machines and equipment;
- workers in the mining and processing industry;
- construction and transport, metallurgists;
- machine builders and related craftsmen;
- sellers, waste collection workers and related workers;
- installers, workers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries and others.
15.04.2021
OUR INCOMES ARE GROWING DESPITE THE PANDEMIC
In 2020, the average income per household member increases by more than 6%, while expenditures remain almost unchanged compared to 2019, according to data from the National Statistical Institute.
The total income per household member last year was BGN 7002, increasing by 6.2% compared to 2019, and for the last decade (2011-2020) the total income increased 1.9 times.
Real household incomes increased by 4.4% in 2020 compared to 2019, with the highest real income index in 2020 compared to 2011 - 165.9%.
Wage income increased compared to a year earlier by 5.3% to BGN 3,927 (a double increase compared to 2011), pension income increased compared to 2019 by 12% to BGN 2018 (an increase of 77% compared to 2011). 2011), income from self-employment increased by 3.1% to BGN 434 (by 50.7% compared to 2011), and income from other social transfers, unemployment benefits, family allowances for children and other social benefits and compensations) - by 5.2% to BGN 204.
In 2020, the largest share in the total income has the salary (56.1% compared to 56.6% in 2019), while the income from all social transfers forms 31.8% of the total income, as from the received social transfers with the highest share are the incomes from pensions - 28.8%.
Last year, Bulgarian households spent an average of BGN 6,220 per person, which is almost unchanged compared to 2019 and represents an increase of 1.8 times compared to 2011.
The funds spent on food and non-alcoholic beverages in 2020 are BGN 1872, or 2.1% more than in 2019, on clothing and footwear - BGN 188 (a decrease of 6.9% compared to a year earlier), while housing costs are BGN 1,121 (an increase of 5.1%).
Healthcare expenditures in 2020 increased by 0.5% to BGN 388, while BGN 700 were spent on transport and communications (a decrease of 4.1% compared to 2019).
The costs for leisure, cultural recreation and education marked a sharp drop from 22.4% to BGN 250, probably as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Expenditures for taxes and social security amount to BGN 860 and increase by 4.09% compared to 2019.
15.04.2021
AN IMPORTANT DEADLINE FOR TAXES IS COMING TO AN END
Today is the deadline for submitting a Declaration to determine the type and amount of advance payments for 2021. This was announced by the National Revenue Agency. As of this year, the procedure for declaring advance payments has been changed. This is done by submitting the declaration under Art. 87a and Art. 88 of the Corporate Income Tax Act (CITA).
The form is submitted by the persons subject to corporate tax under CITA, as well as by natural persons carrying out economic activity as traders within the meaning of the Commercial Law, including sole traders, and by natural persons registered as farmers who have chosen the income from their economic activity to be taxed with tax on the annual tax base under Art. 28 of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA).
Declaration is not submitted by the persons, who are exempted from advance payments and have not chosen to make such according to art. 83, para. 3 of CITA. These are:
- persons whose net sales revenues for the year before the previous year (2019) do not exceed BGN 300,000;
- the newly established in 2020 and in 2021 taxable persons, with the exception of the newly established ones as a result of transformation under the Commercial Law.
A declaration is also submitted if the estimated tax financial result is negative or zero, but the person is obliged to make advance payments. The declaration is submitted only electronically (through the portal for electronic services of the revenue agency, accessible with an electronic signature).
The deadline for payment of the monthly advance payments for the corporate tax for January, February, March and April and of the quarterly advance payments for the first quarter for the corporate tax under CITA for 2021 expires on April 15.
The fastest and easiest payment to the budget, free of charge, is done through a virtual POS-terminal in the portal for electronic services of the NRA.
More information for filling in the declarations and for paying the due taxes can be obtained by the NRA clients on the information phone 0700 18 700 for the price of one call, on the website of the agency or in the offices of the revenue administration.
15.04.2021
UNEMPLOYMENT IN OUR COUNTRY HAS RISEN THE MOST
Unemployment in Bulgaria has risen the most compared to other countries in the European Union, Eurostat reported.
In the last quarter of 2020, it increased by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter to a level of 5.4%. In the EU as a whole, unemployment is falling in 18 of the 27 countries.
The largest decline was in Luxembourg (by 1.9%), followed by Ireland and Portugal - by 0.7 percent.
Luxembourg is also the country with the most significant increase in employment between the third and fourth quarters of 2020 - by 2.1%.
At the opposite pole are Slovakia and Belgium, where employment is down 0.3%.
At the same time, employment in Bulgaria is growing at a slightly faster rate than the EU average - within 0.6 points.
Overall, the EU labor market is showing weak signs of recovery at the end of 2020, according to Eurostat.
15.04.2021
FOR A WEEK THE EMPLOYEES ARE 97 MORE THAN THE LAID OFF ONES
For the first time since mid-March in the week of April 5-11, the number of people who came to work is higher than the number of those fired, according to NSI data.
For the period, 6,143 people were laid off and 6,240 were hired. In Sofia, most are both those released during the week and those hired. In the capital, those who started working are 60 more than those sent to the labour exchange. In Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Razgrad, Targovishte, the number of employees is also significantly higher than the number of those laid off, and in Gabrovo - almost twice as many. In most districts, however, the ratio is reversed, such as in the Yambol region, where 127 people were fired in just one week, and only 73 found a livelihood. The situation is similar in Plovdiv, and in the Montana region 209 people were fired and hired about 50% less - 105.
15.04.2021
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: BSE STARTS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GERMAN STOCK EXCHANGE FOR FINANCING BULGARIAN STARTUPS
The Bulgarian Stock Exchange announced that it has launched a partnership with a subsidiary of the German stock exchange Deutsche Börse, which will help Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises and start-up companies to obtain additional financing.
Founded in 2015, the subsidiary Deutsche Börse Venture Network® is an ecosystem consisting of 460 venture capitalists from 32 countries around the world. 200 companies are members of this ecosystem and they have managed to raise a total of 4.6 billion euros in funding since its inception.
"BSE will serve as a bridge to the network through free evaluation and consultations of companies that are potential members from Bulgaria," said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Manyu Moravenov, Executive Director of BSE and Associate Professor at VUZF.
Bulgarian companies - candidates for joining the Deutsche Börse Venture Network, must meet at least three of the following criteria: for start-ups at an early stage - to have at least 1 million euros in revenue, to cover some specific business indicators such as a large number of new customers or a large growth of the customer base, etc., to have a well-known investor and attracted capital of over 1 million euros; for more mature companies - to have not less than 10 million euros in revenues; to report annual revenue growth of at least 30%, annual net profit over EUR 0.5 million, equity over EUR 5 million, well-known leading investors and attracted capital over EUR 10 million. You can see more at: https://beamuplab.space/bg/venture_network
The benefits of BSE membership in the network will be presented today during the third strategic meeting of the companies from the beamUp lab program - Gravity MeetUp III. The exchange is a symbolic host of the meeting and will demonstrate all the opportunities it offers to startups and SMEs to raise capital to implement their business strategies with a focus on the Beam Growth Market.
Another focus will be the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's panel, which will present the types of financing they provide for start-ups and SMEs.
In the last session, EnduroSat, Businessmap (Kanbanize), SoftUni and Software Group will make their special presentation or the so-called virtual investor pitch and will receive feedback and recommendations from the managers of the leading venture capital funds - Neo Ventures, BlackPeak Capital and LAUNCHub.
The forum is attended by representatives of the 20 companies selected for the beamUp lab program, its partners and consultants.
14.04.2021
THE EFFECTS OF TELEWORK ON THE LABOR MARKET HAVE YET TO BE STUDIED IN DEPTH
Employers, like all workers, face many challenges during this economic crisis. A recent study showed that corporate social responsibility practices, especially in large companies, have been maintained even as financial parameters, and in some cases companies have even increased their budgets. This was stated by Zornitsa Rusinova, Chair of the Economic and Social Council (ESC).
These are usually companies from the financial and insurance sectors and energy. Some of these companies are branches of international companies that have good standards of corporate social responsibility and have managed to maintain them during the crisis, despite the great challenges. About 97-98% of companies have taken the most popular measures - for example, they encourage employees who have symptoms to stay at home.
It is necessary to prepare an internal organizational plan in case of COVID situation how to reorganize the company's activities. To make an analysis of the importance of a certain type of meetings, events and, accordingly, to reposition them in some way, Rusinova recommends. In 90% of the cases the business trips and the direct contact between the employees, as well as with clients have decreased.
Most companies, perhaps about 85%, also use forms of telework. We also see this trend at the pan-European level - recently EC data showed that over 40% of people who worked were remotely employed during the pandemic. This is one of the reasons for ESC to prepare an opinion this month on the effects of telework on the labor market.
Thus, it will be possible to make a good picture of the workforce and, accordingly, recommendations in which direction the legislature and the executive could work with specific measures, explained the chairman of the ESC.
"Based on this opinion, we will not only be able to give a good picture of the effects on the workforce, but also recommendations on the direction in which the legislature and the executive could work with specific measures. The other topic, which is also important. for us in the Economic and Social Council and in May we will clarify, is a full analysis of the measures that the state had prepared for companies, for people - to maintain employment, social support, financial liquidity, tax relief, credit deferrals, administrative deadlines, etc. In order to be able to be useful to the legislature and the executive in the summer months in formulating the next steps," explained the economist.
"The care of all countries, including Bulgaria, during this crisis was, first of all, to help both people and companies. To keep employment so that people do not lose their jobs. What we see from the recent survey is a rearrangement of the priorities of many business leaders and employers, and owners in general. If until two years ago the main topic was people's skills and qualifications, now the Covid crisis is in the first place. In second place, however, is the effect on the future of labor, as well as the effect on the renewal of energy sources, the circular economy, etc. - more and more companies are thinking about this topic," said Rusinova.
