Bulgaria records 3.6% economic growth in 2017
Bulgaria’s economy grew by 3.6 per cent last year, based on preliminary data, the country’s National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on March 7. In real terms, gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 was 98.6 billion leva, or 50.4 billion euro.
In the fourth quarter, Bulgaria’s economy grew by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous quarter and 3.5 per cent year-on-year. In real terms, GDP in the last three months of 2017 was 27.43 billion leva or 14 billion euro.
NSI’s preliminary data gave a breakdown by key growth components only for the last quarter of 2017, not the full year.
Fourth-quarter figures showed domestic consumption increase by 1.3 per cent compared to the previous three months and were 3.8 per cent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2016. Gross fixed capital formation increased by 0.2 per cent and was 4.5 per cent higher on an annual basis.
Exports in the fourth quarter fell by one per cent, while imports increased 4.4 per cent (year-on-year, exports were two per cent higher and imports rose by 8.3 per cent). In real terms, the fourth-quarter trade deficit was 1.35 million leva, but the full-year trade balance showed a surplus of 1.5 billion leva, the equivalent of 1.5 per cent of GDP.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
