3. Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuke plant facing loss of up to 50 mln levs The Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP), on the Danube river, will incur a loss of 40 to 50 mln levs after the closure of units 3 and 4 and the refusal of the nation's power regulator to approve an 18% hike in electricity prices from January, said Ivan Genov, executive director of the power station. The power regulator has said it will not adjust electricity tariffs before July this year. In that case, Kozloduy will seek a 24% increase to 48.35 levs/MWh, said Genov. In his view, if the regulator refuses to revise electricity tariffs it should then increase the volumes that Kozloduy is allowed to sell on the deregulated electricity market. The management of the NPP expects that the regulator will adopt new rules for electricity trading from July when the market will open to competition and households will be allowed to picked their power supplier. (Dnevnik)

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	4. Bulgaria Attracts 3.6 Bln Euro in 2006 FDI vs 2.3 Bln Euro Yr-ago Bulgaria attracted an estimated 3.6 billion euro ($4.7 billion) in foreign direct investments (FDI) last year, up from 2.326 billion euro in 2005, the head of the government agency in charge of investments said on Tuesday. Investments in real estate were 35% of the 2006 total, while those in manufacturing accounted for 25%, InvestBulgaria president Stoyan Stalev told the Euromoney Central and Eastern European Forum. FDI in Bulgaria for the first 11 months of 2006 were 3.3 billion euro, covering 106.2% of the country's current account deficit in the period, versus 83.7% a year earlier. Bulgaria can expect to attract around four billion euro in FDI in 2007, Stalev told SeeNews, raising his earlier forecast by half a billion euro. He said last month that Bulgaria hopes to attract up to 3.5 billion euro in FDI in 2007, slightly up from 3.4 billion euro projected for 2006. FDI is a key factor in countering the rise in Bulgaria's current account deficit. The current account gap widened to 3.115 billion euro through November, or 12.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for 2006, from 2.012 billion euro a year earlier, or 9.4% of last year's GDP, but the rise in FDI and the tight fiscal policy of the government prevented the gap from threatening the country's balance of payments. SeeNews

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	5. Sofia Commodity Exchange Set To Start CO2 Emissions Trading The Sofia Commodity Exchange (SCE), the biggest in Bulgaria, said on Tuesday it was set to start trading in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as soon as the EU newcomer state adopted the relevant regulations. "The Sofia Commodity Exchange, with the help of experts from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry [BCCI], has advanced significantly in the procedure for bourse trading, but above all, we need a single register of emissions," SCE executive director, Vassil Simov, told reporters. Trading in carbon dioxide emissions on the SCE would be based on that register, to be administered by the Environment Ministry, he added. Trading in emissions offers energy-intensive industries the most cost-effective way to meet their obligation to cut emissions, or use emissions as collateral in borrowing from financial institutions. Carbon dioxide emissions have been widely blamed for the changes in the global climate. Simov quoted experts from the European Climate Exchange as saying that Sofia could develop as a national spot market for emissions, unlike the Amsterdam-based bourse, which trades in futures. The government in Sofia adopted last week regulations for the creation of a national register of emissions, including 146 installations in the metal, mining, oil processing and paper industries. The cabinet is expected to discuss the country's 2008-2012 CO2 emissions allocation plan in January. A draft has sparked protests among businesses that they would not get enough quotas.

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	6. EU brokerage co's poised to swarm Bulgarian market No less than 13 EU financial companies have notified plans to enter the Bulgarian market after the Balkan state's EU entry on January 1, said the local Financial Supervision Commission. Just over 80 outfits are currently licensed to operate as investment intermediaries in Bulgaria. Most of the likely new entrants are registered in the UK. There was also one company from a Czech company. Although the names of the brokerage outfits were withheld, unofficial sources said they included some of the world's biggest investment banks. The financial regulator said their names will be announced within a month or so. The emergence of new players on the local financial market is facilitated by Bulgaria's EU entry which discontinued the previous licensing requirements. The newcomers can now set up shop here solely on the basis of the so called single passport. The financial regulator need only be notified of the plans of the companies that intend to do business in Bulgaria. The arrival of brawnier competitors should shake up the local financial intermediation market, increasing the range of available products and services. Some service fees may be cut, said Iliyan Skarlatov from Sofia International Securities. In his view, stock transaction commissions are very low and are not expected to come down any further. The tougher competition environment may push some of the local players off the market, said Apostol Apostolov from TBI Invest. In his view, more than half of the existing financial services companies are either redundant or doormat.(Dnevnik)

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