Bulgaria records 0.7% economic growth in Q3 – flash estimate
Bulgaria’s economy posted 0.7 per cent growth in the third quarter of the year, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a flash estimate on November 13. In real terms, gross domestic product (GDP) in Bulgaria in July-September was 23.6 billion leva, or 12.1 billion euro.
In annual terms, economic growth was 2.9 per cent. NSI is due to announce preliminary growth figures for the third quarter on December 4.
The flash estimate’s seasonally-adjusted data showed an increase of 1.1 per cent in domestic consumption during the third quarter (up by 1.1 per cent on an annual basis), as well as a 0.1 per cent rise in gross fixed capital formation (in annual terms, the figure showed a decline of 0.9 per cent).
Exports shrank by five per cent during the third quarter, but were still 2.6 per cent higher than in the same period of 2014, while imports declined by 2.7 per cent compared to the previous three months (but grew by 1.2 per cent compared to the third quarter of last year).
Bulgaria was one of 18 EU countries to record economic growth during the third quarter of 2015, with the EU economy as a whole posting growth of 0.4 per cent and the euro zone up by 0.3 per cent, according to a flash estimate by EU’s statistics body Eurostat. In the previous quarter, the EU28 and the euro zone both expanded by 0.4 per cent, Eurostat said.
Among the 21 EU member states to report GDP figures, Bulgaria ranked fifth, with Romania posting the strongest growth at 1.4 per cent, followed by Poland and Slovakia with 0.9 per cent growth. Finland, Estonia and Greece all posted negative economic growth, while seven countries were yet to report third-quarter estimates (Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden).
In annual terms, the EU economy grew by 1.9 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2014, while the euro zone economy was up by 1.6 per cent.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
