International relations

Bulgaria's Finance Ministry is drafting a tax fraud prevention strategy in cooperation with other control authorities.

"Debt reduction requires major budget cuts"

BELGRADE -- An International Monetary Fund mission will visit Serbia for talks on a new three-year arrangement with the country shortly after a new government is formed.

BELGRADE - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will visit Serbia for talks on a new three-year arrangement with the country shortly after its new government is formed, Finance Minister Lazar Krstic has announced, adding that public debt reduction will be one of the goals of the new government, making major budget cuts a necessity.

In a report issued on Wednesday, following discussing between the Albanian government and the Fund from October to December, the IMF said Albania’s economy had weakened and macro-economic imbalances had widened.

Bulgarian Sports Totalizator has rendered BGN 26,938,000 to the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2013, a total of BGN 4M more than in 2012.

The increase was primarily due to changes in the Totalizator's regulations, namely a 17% cost reduction, and 18% of revenues allocated to sports, Dnevnik informs.

European Parliament is to announce on Wednesday the winner of European Tree of the Year contest.

Switzerland has decided to freeze talks on a trade deal with Russia as a result of the Crimea crisis, its economy minister said on Wednesday.

Johann Schneider-Ammann said the talks with Moscow and its ex-Soviet customs union partners Belarus and Kazakhstan had been put on hold "in such a situation of uncertainty." 

A huge fire has broken out in Macedonia only 1 km away from the Bulgarian border, Wednesday afternoon.

The fire was located close to the border checkpoint of Stanke Lisichkovo near Bulgaria's Blagoevgrad.

Bulgaria's Pazadrzhik regional court found all 13 imams guilty of propagating anti-democratic ideology. 

E-Government in Bulgaria might be complete before 2020, Transport Minister Danail Papazov announced Wednesday.

Papazov, who is also in charge of the information technologies sector, considers it possible that Bulgaria reaches a "medium level" compared to EU countries in terms of electronic governance.