Economics

The Institute for Economic Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences proposes three scenarios for the macroeconomic consequences in Bulgaria of fighting COVID-19, the Academy reported.

The fallout from the coronavirus spread that has killed more than 83,000 people and wreaked havoc on economies around the world could push around half a billion people into poverty, Oxfam said on Thursday.

The fallout from the coronavirus spread that has killed more than 83,000 people and wreaked havoc on economies around the world could push around half a billion people into poverty, Oxfam said on April 9.

In March 2020, the total business climate indicator decreases by 3.7 percentage points in comparison with February which is due to the worsened business climate in industry, retail trade and service sector, NSI said in a press release.

Industry

The govenrment on Tuesday announced changes to supermarket opening hours, which had been extended to respond to additional demand amid restrictions on movement imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. 

As of Thursday, supermarkets will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and will be closed on Sundays. 

The inflation rate in Turkey was recorded at 12.37 percent in February, the country's statistical authority announced on March 3. 

Last month's figure was up 0.22 percentage points from 12.15 percent in January, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a statement.

In February 2020, the total business climate indicator decreases by 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous month as a result of the more unfavourable business climate in retail trade and service sector, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a press release.

In the fourth quarter of 2019 there were 138.5 thousand unemployed persons, of whom 80.6 thousand (58.2%) men and 57.9 thousand (41.8%) women. The unemployment rate was 4.1%, 4.4% and 3.8% for men and women respectively. In comparison with the fourth quarter of 2018, the unemployment rate went down by 0.6 percentage points, registering the same decrease for men and women.

The annual inflation rate dropped to 3.6 percent in January this year, from 4 percent in December of last year, given that the food stuff prices went up by 4, 75 percent, services by 4.01 percent, and non-food goods by 2.68%, according to data released on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Consumer prices in January 2020 compared to December 2019 increased by 0.4 percent.

Total Producer Price Indices in Industry