Bulgaria records 0.7% economic growth in Q3 2019 – 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 14. In real terms, gross domestic product (GDP) in Bulgaria in July-September was 31.5 billion leva, or 16.1 billion euro.
In annual terms, economic growth in the third quarter was 3.7 per cent. NSI is due to announce preliminary growth figures for the quarter on December 5.
The flash estimate’s seasonally-adjusted data showed domestic consumption grow by 0.9 per cent during the third quarter (and was 4.9 per cent higher on an annual basis), while gross fixed capital formation rose by 0.8 (while also up by 2.2 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2018).
Exports rose by 3.4 per cent during July-September (but were only 0.4 per cent higher compared to the same period of 2018), while imports were one per cent up compared to the previous quarter (and 1.7 per cent lower on an annual basis). The country recorded a trade surplus of 4.2 billion leva during the quarter, NSI said.
Bulgaria was one of 20 EU countries to record economic growth during the third quarter of the year, while eight others were yet to report third-quarter estimates – Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden.
The EU economy as a whole grew by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter and the euro zone grew by 0.2 per cent, according to a flash estimate by EU’s statistics body Eurostat, compared to the previous quarter, when the EU28 economy and the euro zone both expanded by 0.2 per cent.
In annual terms, the EU economy grew by 1.3 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2018, while the euro zone economy was up by 1.2 per cent.
(Photo: Alessandro Paiva/sxc.hu)
