Urgent reform of Bulgaria's planning districts is needed, local authorities insist.The current regionalization shows increasing economic imbalances in terms of EU grant assistance. The problem is particularly severe in the Southwestern region, which includes Sofia city. According to the EU cohesion rules, when a region's GDP per capita reaches 100% of the EU average, the regions receive 30% co-financing for EU programs.
In the Southwestern region, due to Sofia's indicators, the coverage is 100%. Transitional regions, with a GDP between 75% and 100% of the EU average, receive 60% grant aid, while underdeveloped regions receive 85%. In Sofia city, the GDP per capita is close to 130% of the EU average, which affects the neighboring districts – Sofia District, Pernik, Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad, where the coverage is between 54% and 31%. The bundling of these districts with the capital city limits their access to EU funds.
The Bulgarian state-owed natural gas supplier Bulgargaz has proposed that the price of natural gas for November increases by around 8% to nearly 66 BGN per megawatt-hour, excluding fees and taxes, reported BNR's journalist Yuliana Kornazheva. The..
The growth of the national economy in the second quarter of 2025 accelerated by 3.5% on an annual basis. According to an analysis by the Bulgarian National Bank - BNB, the main factors for the acceleration are the decrease in imports..
For the first time, Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance Temenuzhka Petkova took part as an observer in the regular meeting of the Eurogroup held in Luxembourg, the Ministry of Finance said. Until now, Bulgaria has only participated in Eurogroup..
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