Bulgaria, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas for its domestic needs, will lose hefty transit fees when TurkStream becomes operational at the end of this year and Gazprom stops its gas deliveries to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia via Bulgaria in 2020.

The Bulgarian economy continues to grow strongly, supported by buoyant domestic demand. Growth exceeded 3 percent in 2018 and is projected to maintain its momentum in 2019.

IMF - Output is estimated to have grown by 3.2 percent in 2018, unemployment to have fallen to close to 5 percent, and the current account to have recorded another sizable surplus. Prospects for 2019 are for more of the same––we are projecting real GDP growth of 3.3 percent. However, the downside risks to this outlook have recently risen, owing to a sharper-than-anticipated slowdown in global trade and unsettled financial markets.

EBRD - Using plasma technology, the facility will significantly reduce the volume of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the Kozloduy reactors 1 to 4, which were shut down between 2002 and 2006, and reactors 5 and 6, which are in operation.

President Chakrabarti welcomed Bulgaria’s recent actions to strengthen the stability of its financial sector and promote the liberalisation of the energy market. He reconfirmed the EBRD’s commitment to support these reforms with investment and technical advice.

Bulgaria’s prime minister Boyko Borisov proposed the gas hub, to be built near the city of Varna, days after Russia scrapped the Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline project over objections from the EC, suggesting a different idea of what a hub is from the conventional, virtual trading point such as the Dutch title transfer facility.

The 180-km (110-mile) pipeline will be built by a Bulgarian-Greek joint venture that also includes Italian energy group Edison SpA.

"I will defend the position for the construction of Nord Stream II and (a) gas hub in Bulgaria - it is advantageous for the country and nobody can reproach me for that," Borisov told reporters.

Bulgaria’s Cabinet was preparing to seek damages for the idled properties that were due to host infrastructure for the now-abandoned South Stream gas pipeline, with the government approving on August 26 the methodology for calculating such damages.

Bulgaria didn't quit the South Stream gas pipeline project, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said.