OVERPERFORMANCE
The National Revenue Agency (NRA) has gathered a total of 5.8 billion leva in tax and social insurance revenue in January-May this year, the NRA said on June 30. The sum is 43.4 per cent of the full-year projections against 41.1 per cent for the same period of last year. Tax revenues were 42.5 per cent of the annual target compared to 41.9 per cent a year earlier. The NRA registered an increase in direct taxes despite the introduction of a flat personal income tax at the beginning of the year. The revenues from social and health security contributions rose by 14.4 per cent to 1.4 billion leva and by 22.8 per cent to 371 million leva respectively.

NUMBER ONE
The World Bank has ranked Bulgaria first in the world in terms of tax policy, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev was quoted as saying by Bulgarian BTA news agency on June 28. He attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new cement and clinker line in the plant of Italcementi Group in Devnya near Varna. “Bulgaria is the only EU country which is ranked among the world’s top ten countries most appropriate for investment,” Stanishev noted.

SPEEDING NABUCCO
The signing of the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco natural gas pipeline could happen as early as this fall, Energy and Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov told reporters on June 27.
Dimitrov said that Bulgaria was ready to talk with each of the participant countries Turkey, Austria, Romania and Hungary for speeding up the work on the pipeline that would serve as the EU’s alternative route to the Russia-Italian South Stream pipeline.  The 3300km long pipeline will carry 30 billion cu m of Caspian or Middle Eastern natural gas yearly from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

SECOND-HAND
The outflow of Bulgarian tourists together with high prices were some of the factors that have made Bulgarian tour operator Alfatour stop offering Bulgarians holiday packages for the Black Sea, Alfatour manager Grisha Kostov told Bulgarian-language Monitor daily on June 27. Another reason was the fact that hotels gave foreign tourists discounts of up to 50 per cent while Bulgarians were given just 10 per cent. Hotels owners treated Bulgarians as “second-hand” clients and a back-up option, Kostov noted.