Bulgaria records 3.0% economic growth in 2015
Bulgaria’s economy grew by three per cent last year, based on preliminary data, the country’s National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on March 8. In real terms, gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 was 86.4 billion leva, or 44.2 billion euro.
In the fourth quarter, Bulgaria’s economy grew by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous quarter and three per cent compared to the last quarter of 2014. In real terms, GDP in the last three months of 2015 was 23.7 billion leva or 12.1 billion euro.
NSI’s data gave a breakdown by key growth components only for the last quarter of 2015, not the full year. Fourth-quarter figures showed domestic consumption increase by 0.9 per cent compared to the previous three months and were 2.7 per cent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Gross fixed capital formation increased by 1.1 per cent and was 1.7 per cent higher on an annual basis.
Exports in the fourth quarter rose by 5.6 per cent, while imports increased by 3.9 per cent. In real terms, the fourth-quarter trade deficit was 915 million leva, but the full-year trade balance showed a surplus of 1.25 billion leva, the equivalent of 1.5 per cent of GDP.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
