PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - August 27

SOFIA Aug 27 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

GENERAL AND POLITICS

- A fire, probably caused by a short circuit, broke out in Bulgaria's troubled steelmaker Kremikovtzi KMKV.BB, but was quickly put out but caused no casualties (Dnevnik, Klasa, Monitor, Novinar, Standart, Sega).

KLASA - Bulgaria's population will decrease by 29 percent to 5.5 million people by 2060 with the elderly people constituting 63.5 percent of it, Eurostat forecast data showed.

BUSINESS

- Bulgarian government may open a concession tender for the construction of the Gorna Arda hydropower cascade, Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov said. Candidates will take part on equal footing with dominant state power utility NEK (Dnevnik, Klasa, Monitor, Sega, Pari).

DNEVNIK - Direct Petroleum Bulgaria, branch of U.S. Direct Petroleum Exploration Inc, said it has found a substantial natural gas deposit in northern town of Cherven bryag.

DNEVNIK - Bulgarian Battery producer Monbat MONBAT.BB posted a profit of 17.8 million levs ($13.40 million) for the first seven months of the year, compared to 8.13 million levs ($6.12 million) for the same period a year ago.

KLASA - The construction of Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant in Belene will begin on September 3, state power utility NEK said.