Bulgaria’s furniture sector braces for 40% drop in sales Battered by a sharp deterioration in domestic demand, Bulgaria& rsquo;s furniture manufacturers are facing an up to 40% slide in sales, according to Kalin Simeonov, chairman of the wood processing and furniture chamber. Speaking at the World of Furniture exhibition running at Sofia& rsquo;s Inter Expo Center, he said that furniture demand has shran... Brussels races Sofia metro extension After nine-month talks the European Commission cleared a EUR 157 million funding for the construction of the second arc of the Sofia underground railways, said Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. The stretch linking Nadezhda quarter and Cherni Vrah Boulevard is worth EUR 247 million, with the balance due to come from the state and the Sofia municipality.... Bulgaria lending still hovers near freezing point Aug 2009 The Bulgarian credit market eked out an anemic increase of slightly over 0% in August in a sign that unclogging could be tougher than expected, showed the latest figures of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). The combined corporate loan portfolio of local lenders inched up by 0.06% from July, reaching BGN 19.1 million, while household loans edged do... Trakiya motorway tenders scheduled for the autumn The first long-anticipated tenders for construction of Bulgaria& rsquo;s Trakiya motorway will be held in the autumn, said construction minister Rosen Plevneliev. The 115-kilometre road linking the eastern towns of Stara Zagora and Karnobat should be completed in the autumn of 2012, he said. The ministry plans to tap European funding to bankroll th... Business, home loan defaults zoom over 30% M/M Overdue housing loans have ballooned by 37.5% on the month in June 2009, outpacing all other segments, according to the latest figures of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). Bad and restructured corporate loans spiralled by a second-fastest 30.5% and the consumer segment recorded an 18.7% increase. Home loans saw the most defaults also in all of the...