Bulgaria’s printed media continue to comment the 2017 draft budget on Monday. Standart daily notes that in 2017 the state will spend EUR 1.79 billion more as compared to 2016 due to higher budgets of Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry, Ministry of Healthcare and Ministry of Education. 24 Chassa comments that next year the incomes are expected to increase, taxes will remain unchanged and unemployment should fall to 7.3%.

Sega daily alarms on its first pages that despite the stimuli provided to Bulgaria’s students, they avoid specialties in high demand. The number of people studying physical sciences dwindled by half and the number of those wishing to study high-priority specialties such as transport, navigation and aviation fill only 55% of the available university positions, the newspaper further informs.

Trud daily criticizes Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defense which intends to buy old security vehicles from the USA. According to officers from the Bulgarian army, an armored security vehicle Guardian M1117 model which dates back to the beginning of the 1980’s will be bought due to interests of lobby groups. Members of the Bulgarian mission in Afghanistan claim that the US army removed those security vehicles from service, because they do not provide enough protection against explosions and mines and currently only the National Guard of the United States and US Military Police uses those vehicles.

Capital daily informs on its first pages that the EU and Canada signed on Sunday the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). As a result, nearly 99% of the duties will be abolished. Trade between the European Union and Canada is expected to increase with 20%. Currently, trade volumes between Bulgaria and Canada are insignificant and Canada’s investments in Bulgaria are meager. However, things may change after the signature of CETA, the newspaper further comments.

Fake coins with a nominal of 1 lev (equal to 50 Eurocents) flooded the shops in the city of Dobrich (Northeastern Bulgaria), Monitor daily informs. The coins were faked perfectly and even tradesmen are unable to distinguish them from the real ones. However, the name of Saint John of Rila was engraved with bigger letters on the counterfeit coins, the newspaper further writes.