WAGE THRESHOLDS
Trade unions, employers, employees and other interest groups may be able to negotiate industry specific wage thresholds, within a set range. This could be the result of Ministry of Labour and Social Policy drafted amendments to salaries regulations. The amendments will replace the fixed monthly threshold with a minimum payment range, linked to the poverty line as of next year. The Ministry wants to define the minimum wage from 110 per cent to 145 per cent of the poverty line, that would correspond to a salary of 100 euro to 132 euro a month next year. At present the minimum wage is set at 92 euro a month. Trade unions and employers have asked the Government to replace the monthly wage regulations with minimum pay per hour. So far there has been no reaction from the Government although various state bodies have spoken in favour of such reforms.

BOURGAS-VLORE
On May 31 Parliament ratified the plans to build an oil pipeline linking Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas with Vlore on Albania's Adriatic Sea.

The pipeline will also pass through Macedonia. Bulgaria is the first of the three countries to ratify the project to build the pipeline. Macedonia and Albania are expected to do so in the near future. The three countries have reportedly secured the initial funding to carry out a detailed feasibility studies for the 870km pipeline.

BIODIESEL
The annual biodiesel market in Bulgaria may grow to 400 000 tons in two to three years, a report by the Oxford Business Group says. The figure would represent a 300-per cent increase compared to 2006 when 140 000 tons of biodiesel were produced in Bulgaria. This also means that biofuel usage in Bulgaria will account for 5.75 per cent of all fuel consumption by 2010, as required by the European Commission.

The quality of the biodiesel produced in Bulgaria, however, is an issue, according to the same report. A total of 25 biofuel producing plants operate in Bulgaria at present.

TETRA LICENCE
The Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) said on June 4 it plans to issue a licence for a TETRA mobile network service. It will issue an individual licence with national coverage to provide telecommunications services through the public mobile network under the TETRA standard. Interested parties must submit their applications to the CRC by July 2.

TRAKIA HIGHWAY
Bulgaria may have to secure the entire funding for the construction of the Trakia highway. This will happen if the concessionaire fails to obtain a loan for the project, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Assen Gagauzov told Parliament on June 1. A day earlier MPs approved the memorandum which extends the term of the 100 million leva loan from European Investment Bank (EIB) for the construction of two stretches of the motorway. The extension was prompted by the fact that the absorption of the funding may fail due to the delay of the construction.

PENSIONS
The assets of Bulgarian pension funds at the end of 2006 accounted for 6.4 per cent of Bulgaria's national wealth, Hassan Ademov, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on labour and social policy, told a conference on pension funds held in Varna. Close to 2000 are the elderly who are already receiving their pensions from private companies. At the end of last year, additional insurance covered 66.42 per cent. Nikola Abadjiev, chairperson of the Bulgarian Association of Companies for Additional Pension Insurance, proposed that the current five per cent installment for those born after the end of 1959 grow to seven per cent from the beginning of 2008. The companies will also insist on higher tax concessions for insurance of a third pension in voluntary funds. 

SALARIES
Bulgarians who earn from 600 leva to 1400 leva a month, pay more than 40 per cent of their incomes to the state budget in the form of taxes and insurance, according to Lachezar Bogdanov of the think tank Industry Watch. The middle class has the greatest taxation burden. These are mostly managers, analysts and specialists, and some skilled employees and operators of machines and facilities receive such incomes. Under current Bulgarian law, employers have to pay an additional 182 leva to 187 leva if they are to raise salaries by 100 leva for those who presently get from 300 leva to 1400 leva.

DUNDEE PRECIOUS
The case of Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals was an example of how the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) acted in power. According to Roumen Ovcharov, who has resigned as Economy and Energy Minister, the Environment Ministry, headed by the MRF's Djevdet Chakurov, had been holding back the Dundee project in Chelopech for months. On May 4, Laurence Marsland, the company's executive officer for Bulgaria, said that Dundee might move the production of end metals out of Bulgaria.

OVER THE COUNTER
Bulgarian over-the-counter medicated products market expanded by 12 per cent to 180 million leva in 2006, according to Euromonitor International, quoted by Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily. Local OTC segment is dominated by the big international drug makers with Actavis topping the sales rankings. Local OTC drug manufacturers continued to lose ground to the competition in 2006, said Euromonitor, a trend that is expected to persist as Bulgarian companies try to tackle high production costs and lack of flexibility in meeting shifting consumer demand. Bulgarian drug makers Sopharma and Medica landed in key ranking spots in terms of OTC drug sales, respectively, second and 17th. Kendy, the local producer of vitamins and dietary supplements, is also among the few well-performing Bulgarian makers of OTC products.

BUSINESS IN SHOUMEN
A total of 150 million euro is expected to be invested in the opening of high-tech production facilities in an industrial park near Shoumen. The municipal council of the city will offer investors 287 ha of land near Shoumen at preferential prices. The new facilities have to be put to operation within a four-year period.