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Bulgaria's National Assembly voted at first reading Friday on extending bank deposit insurance to the local-currency equivalent of EUR 50,000 from BGN 40,000 at present.
The MPs approved bills of Rumen Ovcharov, Milen Velchev and Yordan Tsonev of the ruling coalition and of independent Maria Kapon.
Kapon proposed a guarantee of the local-currency equivalent of EUR 50,000 mirroring the measure put forward at the latest meeting of the EU's finance ministers to protect deposits of up to EUR 50,000.
The members of the ruling coalition called for a BGN 100,000 insurance.
Under the adopted legislative changes, the government will also guarantee debt instruments issued by the local commercial banks.
The deposit insurance fund will borrow from the state budget if short of cash and guarantee interbank loans for a year, under the proposal.
The Bulgarian government is ready to guarantee interbank loans and buy back government securities to help banks overcome the credit crunch and the smaller liquidity, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told Reuters news agency.
Stanishev pledged the government would bail out any bank suffering liquidity problems, and said the fiscal reserve would surge to BGN 13 billion at the year's end.
(Dnevnik)

Sofia airport has been granted a 3A category, meaning that airplanes could land with a visibility a slow as 200 meters.

The news was announced by Bulgaria's Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev Sunday. Mutafchiev participated in the presentation of the military "Albatross F2" plane in the village of Chernogorovo.The plane is a replica of the plane used by the Bulgarian Army during the Balkan War. On October 16, 1912, "Albatross F2" realized one of the first flights in the world when an aircraft was used for military action. The replica has been made by the non-profit organization "Avio relics."

After its renovation the airport in Sofia had a category 1 permitting lending of airplanes with visibility of 550 meters or more. The Transport Ministry then had established a goal of upgrading the airport's category and providing better landing conditions, according to Mutafchiev.

The Minister reminded that the location of the airport posed many obstacles for the category upgrade because the foggy conditions at Sofia's airport are much more frequent than at other airports in the country. Despite that, the Sofia airport became the first airport in Bulgaria to have a category 3A, which means that the number of canceled or delayed flights would be significantly reduced.

The next step, according to Mutafchiev, is the acquisition of a category 3B, which so far has been granted to only 10 airports in Europe. In order to obtain a category 3B, the road to Sofia airport must be changed as well.