09.04.2021
Trade with Serbia fell by only 9% last year
Bulgaria has a new ambassador to Serbia - Petko Doynov. He has already presented his credentials to Serbian President Alexander Vucic, who emphasized Serbia's desire to develop relations with Bulgaria in a spirit of friendship and mutual understanding.
Serbia is not only a neighbor, but also an important partner of our country. It is located at the crossroads of two main pan-European transport corridors - № 7 and № 10, through which Bulgaria connects with the Old Continent. European transport corridor 10 (Salzburg-Ljubljana-Zagreb-Belgrade-Nis-Skopje-Thessaloniki) passes through Serbia and its diversions Budapest-Novi Sad-Belgrade and Nis-Sofia-Istanbul. Another important transport artery that crosses Corridor 10 in Belgrade is the Pan-European Transport Corridor 7 Rhine-Main-Danube.
Great importance is also attached to the construction of Corridor 11 (towards Montenegro). All this is a favorable factor for the development of international economic cooperation in the Balkans. European integration and the accession of our western neighbor to the EU is one of the main priorities of the Serbian government. In March 2012, Serbia received official candidate status, and in December 2015, the country was invited to enter into formal negotiations with the EU.
All this is a prerequisite for active bilateral cooperation. Currently, trade relations between Bulgaria and Serbia are regulated by the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Serbia, signed in 2013.
The analysis shows that the export list of Bulgarian goods is dominated by raw materials, materials and goods with a low degree of processing. Leading places are occupied by petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals, electricity. In recent years, there has been an increase in the share of exports of products and products of the chemical, pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering industries. In imports, the leading positions are occupied mainly by raw materials, metals and petroleum products.
Since 2017, bilateral trade has crossed the 1 billion-euro mark and continues to grow. In 2019, trade reached 1.21 billion euros, but with a negative trade balance for Bulgaria. The pandemic 2020 brought very little change - goods were exchanged for 1.11 billion euros.
Regarding the participation in the privatization and the realized investments in Serbia, Bulgaria occupies leading positions in the number of its companies. There are more than fifty companies with Bulgarian or mixed capital and more than 20 representative offices. Some of the larger Bulgarian companies are represented on the Serbian market: Prista Oil, Rubella, My Gas, Office 1, Golden Rose, Technomarket, Intertrust Holding and others, noted by our Ministry of Economy.
Between 2006 and 2019, Serbian investments worth 241.3m euros entered Bulgaria. In the first nine months of last year, Serbian companies invested 14.1m euros in Bulgaria, but in 2020 a total of 72,039 Serbian businessmen traveled to Bulgaria for business purposes, which shows that there is interest in cooperation.
Tourism is among the most dynamically developing industries in bilateral trade and economic relations. More than 400,000 Serbs have visited Bulgaria as tourists in recent years - in both summer and winter resorts. In 2019, a total of 514,959 Bulgarians visited neighboring Serbia. In 2020, things are a little different - 125,758 guests from neighboring Serbia were here for a holiday and excursion.
The main infrastructure projects between Bulgaria and Serbia are the construction of Corridor 10, which is already ready on the Serbian side and we have to build our part between Kalotina and Sofia, and the construction of the gas interconnector.
The largest Serbian investment in Bulgaria is that of NIS Petrol EOOD, which is owned by Oil Industry Serbia (NIS), one of the largest oil companies in Southeast Europe, amounting to 75m euros. It includes 35 gas stations and a warehouse in the town of Kostinbrod.
Development opportunities
of the economic relations between Bulgaria and Serbia also exist in the cross-border cooperation and the formation of Bulgarian-Serbian business clusters in the border regions; participation of Bulgarian entrepreneurs in infrastructure projects on the territory of Serbia (Trace Group has such), financed by European funds; cooperation in the field of tourism by offering common tourism packages to third countries; joint activity to enter third markets. There are prospects for cooperation in the IT sector, where joint projects are possible in order to enter international markets with a common product and outsourcing projects.
09.04.2021
THE QUARANTINE PATIENT WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM THE GENERAL LIMIT
Quarantine due to Covid-19 and other diseases will no longer be included in the limit for days on sick leave. This is provided by changes in the Ordinance on medical expertise, proposed by the Ministry of Health.
The texts are published on the public consultation portal strategy.bg. The deadline for their discussion is May 5.
Currently, the sick leave, which is issued for quarantine, is within the total limit of 180 days per year. This makes it difficult for people who are or have been in long-term hospitalization due to other illnesses, forcing them to appear before a medical commission and the territorial expert medical commissions (TEMC).
With a change in the transitional and final provisions of the ordinance, the texts of the Regulations for the structure and organization of work of the bodies of the medical expertise and of the regional files of the medical expertises are amended. The new text stipulates that hospital quarantines may be issued by GPs even in cases where patients have used long-term sick leave due to another illness, excluding quarantine from the general hospital limit. Such an exception is currently provided only for the 135 days of sick leave, incl. The 45 days before birth, which are issued for the birth and upbringing of a child.
Limits for days on sick leave
The ordinance on medical expertise stipulates that GPs may single-handedly issue sick leaves for up to 40 days within a calendar year.
For a longer hospital stay - up to 180 days for one calendar year and 360 days used in two years, patients appear before medical advisory commissions, and for over 180 days - before the territorial expert medical commissions (TEMC).
At the same time, the ordinance stipulates that the hospital for quarantine for Covid or another contagious disease must be issued by the personal doctor alone.
Due to the regulations, problems arise for people who have exhausted their sick leave limit due to another illness or disability. In practice, these people are forced to violate the prescriptions of the health authorities in order to appear before the expert commissions, and the purpose of the quarantine is to prevent the spread of the contagious disease, the Ministry of Health said in the reasons for the changes.
08.04.2021
We give the employer the medical in a sealed envelope
Upon entering the job, the employee provides in a sealed envelope to the employer a completed card for preliminary medical examination and copies of expert decisions of the Territorial Expert Medical Commission (TEMC) or the National Medical Expert Commission (NEMC), when such documents are available.
The employer submits the documents to the occupational medicine service servicing the storage facility.
This envisages a draft Ordinance on the conditions for carrying out the obligatory preliminary and periodic medical examinations of employees, uploaded for public discussion.
It also states that the following are subject to mandatory preliminary medical examination:
The draft ordinance provides for the possibility for the doctor performing the obligatory examination in case of suspicion of an occupational disease to refer the employee for specialized examinations and consultations, both to a medical institution for hospital care, which has a structure for occupational diseases, and to any other medical institution in the country with possibilities for diagnostic clarification, which will facilitate and expand the access of employees to qualified medical care, reads the reasons for the ordinance.
The draft ordinance sets out the requirements for initial and periodic medical examinations of employees over 18 years of age. The requirements for entering the results of the performed obligatory preliminary and periodic inspections in the respective map model, introduced by the ordinance, remain unchanged compared to those that are valid so far.
It regulates the obligation of the employer to ensure the conduct of periodic medical surveillance of employees, as well as ensuring the timely appearance of persons subject to periodic medical surveillance.
The requirement aims to ensure the timely and regular conduct of the required examinations of all employees.
The project regulates a list of harmful factors for health and safety, which require mandatory preliminary and periodic medical examinations of employees, doctors who perform them and the frequency of mandatory periodic examinations, which determine the specific requirements. to the obligatory examinations and examinations, as well as the periodicity for their carrying out in relation to the various harmful factors for the health.
It is proposed to introduce a list of relative medical contraindications for entering a profession (position, production activity) with harmful factors for health and safety, which has been updated in accordance with modern conditions and achievements of medical science.
Contraindications that have been identified as restrictive for employment have been dropped from the current list, given the current available opportunities for therapeutic response and compensation of disease symptoms to achieve physiological norms, as well as the potential impact of the work environment and work process and occupational and work-related diseases.
Based on the results of the performed obligatory medical examinations, a conclusion is provided for the suitability of the person to perform a certain profession (position, production activity) to be prepared by the occupational medicine service.
In the presence of a disease, it is planned to assess the type of the disease, the stage of its development, the conditioned functional deficit and the possibility of progression under the specific working conditions.
The draft ordinance provides for occupational health services to assist employers in fulfilling their obligations under the ordinance, including recommending additional medical examinations and/or examinations at intervals other than those specified in the ordinance, in increasing the exposure to harmful factors above the normatively established limit values and updated risk assessment.
07.04.2021
DRAFT NATIONAL STRATEGY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA FOR EQUALITY, INCLUSION AND PARTICIPATION OF ROMA 2021-2030
Pursuant to Order R-32 of 5.03.2021 of the Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues Tomislav Donchev, an Interdepartmental Expert Working Group with the participation of representatives of institutions and civil society organizations prepared a draft National Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for equality, inclusion and participation of the Roma 2021-2030. The working group was based on a version of the strategy with notes from the public consultations as of January 31, 2021.
You can send your opinions on the National Strategy until 12.4.2021 HERE
07.04.2021
EC WITH SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF STARTUPS
24 EU countries and Iceland signed a Declaration on a Common European Standard for Startup Nations a few days ago. It will require Member States to apply practices that encourage entrepreneurship and create a more favorable environment for start-ups.
Measures include the introduction of a startup visa, simplified company registration procedures and quick access to the local market, fully electronic communication between companies and administration, fast visa procedures for talent and entrepreneurs from outside the EU, incentives for experts to return in Europe, access to venture and equity capital, equal access to entrepreneurship, etc.
Bulgaria is not among the participants in the initiative. However, some of the practices have already been introduced. Access to capital in our country is supported by 14 venture and equity funds, which invest in companies from different sectors and at different stages of development of an enterprise. A startup visa has been introduced since mid-February, and at the local level the Sofia Municipality is the first to launch its Sandbox for Innovative Solutions program. In it, pilot projects of the capital's business are tested for applicability in a real urban environment.
So far, only Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia have not signed the declaration.
With the introduction of the Common European Standard for Startup Nations, the EC aims to realize Europe's potential to become the most attractive place to create startups compared to global leaders such as the United States.
"The role that startups can play in the recovery process from the current crisis and in stimulating green and digital transformation cannot be underestimated: they have a proven potential to innovate in response to real-world problems, to create new jobs. and strong synergies with European industry", the text of the document states.
The founders of startups face a number of challenges to the development of their projects. The covid crisis has exacerbated some of these problems, most notably securing the necessary funding: in more than 20 EU countries, including Bulgaria, start-up funds fell sharply in 2020 from a year earlier. This creates a real danger for young innovators to leave the EU and look for places with a more favorable environment, the document notes.
In Bulgaria in 2020, the collapse in startup investments on an annual basis is 5 times - from 149 million euros in 2019 to 35.5 million euros a year later.
06.04.2021
WHAT KIND OF WORKERS ARE IN DEMAND IN OUR COUNTRY AT THE MOMENT
In March 2020, the so-called first lockdown hit the labor market in Bulgaria and job advertisements dropped dramatically. Employers reacted much more flexibly and confidently to the lockdown in March 2021 and the next "closing" not only did not lead to a decrease in job postings, but also an increase - by 10% compared to February 2021 and by as much as 117% compared to March 2020, shows a study of a job search platform.
A positive trend is observed in all sectors. Since the beginning of the year, there has been a constant positive trend in the number of ads published on the leading job sites in Bulgaria.
The sectors with the highest growth were Construction (22%), Accounting, Auditing, Finance (17%) and Administrative activities (16%), followed by Manufacturing (15%), Logistics and transport (14%) and IT (12%).
The Hotel and Restaurant sector, which grew significantly in the previous month (139%), remained almost unchanged in March, with an increase in the number of ads in it by only 0.4%, according to the analysis.
The share distribution of announcements by sectors remains the same as in the previous month of February, with the largest share remaining in the sectors "Trade and sales" (21%), "Production" (16%) and IT (14%).
The trend is positive in all leading regional cities. The growth of job advertisements in them is as follows: Sofia 9%, Plovdiv 4%, Varna 10%, Burgas 17%, Ruse 6% and Stara Zagora 16%. The total number of ads in these cities is equal to 71% of job offers across the country.
Apart from the continuing trend of rising job advertisements throughout the first quarter, the good news is that lockdowns no longer have such a significant impact on the labor market in our country.
The data from the past month are an illustration of greater confidence and less unpredictability on the part of employers, which we hope will gradually lead to the stabilization of the country's economy.
06.04.2021
REGISTRATION FOR THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM FOR DIGITAL MARKETING OF THE AMERICA FOR BULGARIA FOUNDATION HAS STARTED
The America for Bulgaria Foundation is organizing a paid internship program aimed at digital marketing for important causes. The initiative will last for nine months and is suitable for students who have recently graduated from university or retraining professionals. The employment will be about 20 hours a week, and the selected 10 participants will gain experience in the media, as well as in various non-governmental civil society organizations. Each intern will also work with an individual mentor, a representative of a digital agency in Bulgaria. Those wishing to join can apply until April 18. The program starts on May 31.
You can read more about the program here >>
06.04.2021
TWO MORE BANKS WILL GRANT INTEREST-FREE LOANS TO CITIZENS
Two more BDB partner banks under the program for interest-free lending to individuals are starting to accept documents from applicants again.
These are UBB, which restarts the program in its branch network from today, and Raiffeisenbank, which will start accepting applications again from April 7.
At the end of last month, three more BDB partner banks - UniCredit Bulbank, Investbank and First Investment Bank, also restarted the acceptance of applications.
With Decision of the Council of Ministers № 194/05.03.2021, an increase of the budget under the program in the amount of BGN 100 million was approved.
Under it, BDB guarantees interest-free loans of up to BGN 6,900, including for lending to citizens who have been on unpaid leave due to the pandemic, and in the current period of imposed anti-epidemic measures are unemployed.
Applicants may be employees who have been on forced unpaid leave or self-employed persons whose activities have been temporarily suspended due to the emergency situation.
The maximum repayment period is 5 years, with a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 24 months grace period. The loans are exempt from fees, commissions and penalties.
02.04.2021
DEADLINE FOR BUSINESSES TO APPLY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
Funding for nearly 2,000 new jobs - this is offered to businesses by the Employment Agency. The period in which employers can apply for funds in the labor offices expires today.
The measure envisages a monthly payment of up to BGN 630 per salary, as well as social security contributions for each employed unemployed person.
The funding also applies to people who have been staying at the employment office for more than 6 months, under the age of 24 or over 50, with primary and lower education and unemployed mothers with children up to 5 years.
Incentives offer options for full-time or part-time work. The duration of the employment provided and the subsidy period is also different and varies from 3 to 12 months.
According to Art. 50, para. 3 of the Regulations for the implementation of the Employment Promotion Act, the Cooperation Councils at the labor offices will evaluate by April 7, 2021 the submitted applications according to approved criteria and will approve the jobs that can be subsidized within the available free financial resources.
30.03.2021
WE USE A 5% TAX REBATE IF WE FILE THE INCOME TAX RETURN BY MARCH 31
For the first time this year, the National Revenue Agency provides pre-filled tax returns for personal income taxation. Every citizen has the opportunity to compare the officially entered data in the electronic submission of declarations. The pre-filled declarations are available on the website of the Revenue Agency from March 16, the NRA announced.
"The two big changes are data on income from online trading, which we have filled in in advance. And the second is, if there is overpaid tax, it must explicitly and is expected to indicate the declarant, the individual, what will happen to this overpaid tax - whether it should be refunded to a bank account, or maybe, which is a new possibility, it be used in the future", explained the spokesman of the National Revenue Agency Rosen Bachvarov.
In addition to the data on the amounts paid from labor income, the tax authorities fill in the declarations and the income from commercial transactions. Here, those who complete the declarations must indicate whether these are sales of their personal belongings as individuals - the TV, the child's previous ski boots, etc., or whether they are acting as traders, whether or not they are registered as such. It is important to clarify that people who sell personal belongings electronically, and not created or bought for resale, have neither an obligation to declare them nor owe taxes on them.
Data from car transactions, as well as from the purchase of work experience are also pre-filled in the declaration. The sale of a car after it has been owned for less than 12 months is subject to taxation.
There will be no data in the pre-filled declarations for renting out properties to individuals, which is a commitment of the landlords to declare.
In real estate transactions, the rule is that the sale is not taxable if it has been owned for at least 3 years by the seller and is used as a main home. The sale of up to 2 properties, which were owned by the executor of the transaction for at least 5 years, also remains outside taxation.
The National Revenue Agency reminds that the benefits for children in this tax campaign are in the amount of last year - BGN 20 per child. The new, much higher thresholds - from BGN 450 per foster child, which were adopted by the government, will apply to income received this year, and will be reflected in the declarations submitted next year.
The personal income tax campaign, which began in January, will end on May 5, although the deadline for declaration and payment is April 30, due to the Easter holidays. For failure to file a tax return, the fine is BGN 500. For declared incorrect data - 1000 BGN.
It is no longer necessary to submit official notes in more than 90% of cases - for example, for fees for civil contracts, decisions from the LEMC, declarations for tax relief for children to the other parent, said Bachvarov.
People who have income both as individuals and as sole traders must submit a declaration in the second capacity, indicating in it the already declared in the declaration of personal income. There is a possibility for a 5% discount on the additional payment tax, but not more than BGN 500. In order to use it, there must be no tax liability, the tax must be declared electronically and paid before March 31.
There are less than two days left in which individuals can use the 5% discount on the top-up tax on their annual tax return. In order to take advantage of the discount, the citizens must submit their annual tax return by March 31, have no enforceable public obligations, as well as pay the full amount of the additional tax, reminded by the NRA.
The fastest and easiest way to submit the annual tax return is through the portal for electronic services of the National Revenue Agency, accessible with a personal identification code (PIC) or a qualified electronic signature (QES). The revenue agency advises consumers to check online for old debts.
The deadline for declaring income and paying the additional tax this year is May 5, 2021, due to the weekends around the Easter holidays. In addition to electronic means, tax returns can be sent by post, submitted on the spot at the NRA office or at some post offices, where an incoming number will be issued directly.
Information for filling in and submitting tax and insurance declarations and depositing amounts to the budget can be obtained from the NRA website - https://nra.bg/ or by phone: 0700 18 700 at a price according to the tariff of your telephone operator.
