Bulgaria’s economy grows by 0.2% in Q1
Bulgaria’s economy grew by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year using seasonally-adjusted data, compared to the last three months of 2013, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a flash estimate on May 15. Compared to the first quarter of 2013, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was 1.1 per cent higher.
In real terms, GDP in the first quarter was 15.9 billion leva, or 8.1 billion euro.
The flash estimate data showed domestic consumption rise by 1.4 per cent in the first quarter (two per cent compared to the first quarter of 2013), while gross fixed capital formation increased by 0.8 per cent (but 3.2 per cent higher on an annual basis).
Exports in the first quarter shrank by 2.6 per cent, while imports rose by 2.9 per cent, resulting in a trade deficit of 1.49 billion leva.
NSI said it would announce updated first-quarter data on June 4.
Bulgaria’s government targeted 1.8 per cent economic growth for 2014, set in the Budget Act macro-economic framework. Last month, Finance Minister Petar Chobanov raised the government’s forecast to 2.1 per cent.
Also on May 15, the European Union statistics office Eurostat announced the GDP figures that showed a fourth straight quarter of economic growth both in the 18-country euro zone (expanded after Latvia joined the common currency area in January 2014) and the bloc as a whole.
GDP rose by 0.2 per cent in the euro zone and 0.3 in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2014, compared with the previous quarter, according to the flash estimates published by Eurostat (seasonally adjusted data, with eight countries still to report quarterly figures).
(Photo: Alessandro Paiva)
