Thursday 13 November 2008

Well done Prime Minister

My friends in Bulgaria have served in Iraq. They're opinion is that it is futile. Not before time Sergei......
clipped from ap.google.com

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The Bulgarian prime minister says his country will withdraw its small military force from Iraq at the end of the year.

Bulgaria has 155 servicemen at a camp near Baghdad, where they handle the security of some detainees held there.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said Thursday after a Cabinet meeting that "the presence of the Bulgarian military contingent on a humanitarian mission in Iraq ends on Dec. 31."

Stanishev had pledged to withdraw Bulgarian troops from Iraq as part of his election campaign in 2005.

"Our mission in Iraq has been especially difficult," Stanishev said.

Thirteen Bulgarian soldiers and six civilians have died in Iraq since 2003. Bulgaria also has troops in international military missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia.

Bulgaria to pull troops from Iraq at end of year

Proving a Point

If you live here these stastics are lies..... more like 30%...

clipped from ap.google.com

Bulgaria inflation 11.2 percent in October

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria's annual inflation rate slowed to 11.2 percent in October, down from 11.4 percent in September, reflecting the drop in global oil prices, the government said Wednesday.

Bulgaria has one of the highest inflation rates in the European Union, which it joined in 2007. Last year, annual inflation reached 12.5 percent.

The government aims to reduce inflation this year and foresees it to drop below 6 percent in 2009 due to lower than expected economic growth, foreign investments and domestic consumption as a result of the global financial crisis.

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Saturday 1 November 2008

Bulgarian Real Estate Slumps in Value

Bulgarian real estate slumps in value

13:29 Tue 21 Oct 2008 - Nick Iliev

Land plots in resorts or near big cities have witnessed the sharpest decline of over 28 per cent as the drastic decrease in demand has burst the bubble of their artificially inflated prices, Iskrov said.

Land plots in resorts or near big cities have witnessed the sharpest decline of over 28 per cent as the drastic decrease in demand has burst the bubble of their artificially inflated prices, Iskrov said.

The Bulgarian real estate market has enjoyed years of gradual growth, with prices constantly being on the upturn providing a healthy climate for the sector. These were the days of predictability and affluence. Not anymore, being on the outskirts of the hurricane of financial trubulence slowly approaching the country from the West, prices have taken on a sharp decline, as offers on the leading property websites in the country show.

Single family homes, shops, offices and land plots are show a decline ranging from two per cent in the most modest instances to as much as 10 per cent in larger towns and cities across the country, data from websites topimoti.bg, imoti.net and imot.bg shows.

In some grimmer cases, owners have slashed prices by as much as half in a direct consequence of the global credit crunch, the subsequent rising inflation and the waning purchasing power of the population.

Bankers are giving loans and will let customers borrow, whether for a purchase or refinancing of an existing loan, sums that reach up to half of the cost of the property. But it is exactly the lack of funds and liquid assets and cash on the market that is causing its stagnation, National Real Property Association chairperson Luchezar Iskrov told Dnevnik daily.

According to Iskrov, the Bulgarian market was still to experience the worst, though a decrease in economic activity had already been recorded.

The falling prices caused alarm amongst the market speculators, loan borrowers and property developers who are desperate to offload properties as quick as possible and turn them into cash before any further slump in their value comes about, insisted Vladimir Lafchiev, manager of property agency Viel.

Land plots in resorts or near big cities have witnessed the sharpest decline of over 28 per cent as the drastic decrease in demand has burst the bubble of their artificially inflated prices, Iskrov said.

Prices of flats in Pernik, an industrial town 30km from Sofia, have so far registered a decline in value by 10 per cent in the past month alone, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.


http://propertywisebulgaria.com/article/bulgarian-real-estate-slumps-in-value/id_3100/catid_25