Bulgaria records 0.8% economic growth in Q4 2017 – flash estimate
Bulgaria’s economy posted 0.8 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2017, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a flash estimate on February 14. In real terms, gross domestic product (GDP) in Bulgaria in the last three months of last year was 27.88 billion leva, or 14.25 billion euro.
In annual terms, economic growth in the fourth quarter was 3.6 per cent. NSI is due to announce preliminary growth figures for the fourth quarter and the full year on March 7.
The flash estimate’s seasonally-adjusted data showed an increase of 2.2 per cent in domestic consumption during the fourth quarter (up by 4.7 per cent on an annual basis), offsetting a 1.1 per cent decline in gross fixed capital formation (which was up by 3.2 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2016).
Exports shrank by 1.1 per cent during the fourth quarter (but were up two per cent compared to the same period of 2016), while imports rose by 5.4 per cent compared to the previous quarter (and 9.4 per cent higher on an annual basis).
Bulgaria was one of 18 EU countries to record economic growth during the fourth quarter of 2017, with the EU economy as a whole and the euro zone both posting 0.6 per cent growth, according to a flash estimate by EU’s statistics body Eurostat. In the previous quarter, the EU28 and the 19-member euro zone grew by 0.7 per cent each, Eurostat said.
Bulgaria ranked tied for seventh among EU member states, with Lithuania topping the list (1.5 per cent), followed by Hungary (1.3 per cent), Finland and Cyprus (1.1 per cent each). Ten countries were yet to report fourth-quarter estimates – Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden.
In annual terms, the EU economy grew by 2.6 per cent compared to the last quarter of 2016, while the euro zone economy was up by 2.7 per cent.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
