ROSE OIL DATA
Bulgaria has produced two tons of high-quality rose oil since the beginning of the year Nedko Nedkov, Director of the Institute of Rose and Essential Oil Cultures in Kazanluk, told BTA news agency on August 14. Bulgaria's output in 2007 was 20 per cent less than the 2.5 tons planned, owing to the extreme drought, Nedkov said. The two tons of rose oil were bought by the global fragrance manufacturers Nedkov said. Another two tons of rose oil were produced in the rest of the world (mostly in Turkey, China, India, Pakistan and Morocco), although of a lower quality. Bulgaria sold almost all of the 2007 crop. The price of rose oil may well go further up. A total of 3500 ha were planted with roses in 2007, mainly in the Plovdiv and Stara Zagora regions. In 2006, the country produced 1.5 tons from a far smaller area. The principal export markets for Bulgarian rose oil are France, the US, Japan and Germany.

FDI AND CA
Net Foreign Direct Investments inflows dropped 3.1 per cent in June but increased by 1.76 per cent over the whole of the first half of the year, covering 71.3 per cent of the current account (CA) gap for the same period. The ratio deteriorated significantly from the same period last year when it covered more than 100 per cent of the CA gap. For the 12-month period ending in June, the new inflow of FDI covered a larger share of the CA gap, 85 per cent, but was still lower than in previous years. Nearly 50 per cent of the foreign investment inflows are directed into purchasing real estates that will have little impact on the country's export potential. With this structure, the FDI prompts a negative trend in the trade balance that is unlikely to be reversed in the short run.

BLACK SEA AIR TRAFFIC
Bourgas airport, on the Black Sea coast, served a total of 564 700 passengers in July, which was an increase of 11.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2006. Passenger traffic at the other Black Sea airport in Varna was 355 000 passengers in July, unchanged compared to July 2006. Both airports are operated under a concession contract by Germany's Fraport Group, which operates airports in Frankfurt, Frankfurt Haan, Antalya and Lima. A consortium between Fraport and Bulgaria's BM Star won a 35-year concession contract for the management of the airports in 2006. Andreas Helfer, general director of the consortium, promised to invest 403 million euro in the expansion of the airports.

EXPORT/IMPORT
Bulgaria's imports from the EU member countries have increased by 28.4 per cent in the period January to May 2007, compared to the same period in 2006, data from the National Statistical Institute shows. Exports on the other hand have gone up by 10.1 per cent. Bulgaria's largest markets for exports were Germany, Greece and Italy. Exports to Germany increased by 28.2 per cent year-on-year. The volume of Bulgaria's exports to Slovakia went up by 259 per cent, while imports rose by 210 per cent.

SALARIES UP
The average gross salary increased by nominal 17.7 per cent and real 12.4 per cent to 406 leva a month in the second quarter of the year, according to the National Statistical Institute. The growth rates were 16.7 per cent and 10.9 per cent in the first quarter, respectively. The number of employees in the sample surveyed rose by three per cent as of the end of June. This indicates a steep increase in the unit labour cost by more than 10 per cent in the second quarter. According to experts salaries are pushed up by narrowing labour supply and improving profit rates in the service and industrial sectors. Incomes in mining, manufacturing, transport, hotels and restaurants and construction saw the fastest rates of increase of more than 20 per cent in nominal terms. Private sector wages surged at a faster rate in both quarters in response to labour market challenges and competitive job offers from other EU members. However, the average wage in the private sector remained below the figure in the public sector and the margin only shrank a little to 22.5 per cent in the second quarter. The data does not include bonus pays, which are supposed to have a bigger weight in the private sector, in addition to various creative ways of income transfers designed to lower tax deductions.

PENSION MARKET
According to Allianz Global Investors the pension markets in Bulgaria and Romania will remain small until 2015. However the markets will be relatively attractive, considering that the two countries have a larger population than the Baltic states. The German asset management company has published a report on the pension systems in eleven countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The report says that the Bulgarian pension reform has proceeded step-by-step. Bulgaria is likely to remain a fast growing asset management market and become much more attractive as income levels go up, the report says. Compared to other pension markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the Bulgarian market is relatively small and poor, but it is intelligently structured, which is better than a large and rich market lacking a coherent structure. In terms of size of second-pillar contributions, Bulgaria is placed sixth among the eleven countries covered by the report.

OPEN BID
On August 8 Regional Development and Public Works Ministry opened the bidding on 22 lots of EU-funded road and water infrastructure projects. The projects are worth a total of $29.7 million. The EU will provide $22.3 million for the projects, which are aimed at improving infrastructure in towns with a potential for tourism. Companies interested in 10 of the lots need to file their bids by September 18. The projects include repairing water supply networks and linking waste waters with treatment plants in various towns across Bulgaria. The deadline for the remaining 12 road reconstruction projects is September 19