Bulgaria records 0.7% economic growth in Q4 2019 – flash estimate

Bulgaria’s economy posted 0.7 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2019, 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 32.37 billion leva, or 16.55 billion euro.

In annual terms, economic growth in the fourth quarter was 3.5 per cent. NSI is due to announce preliminary growth figures for the fourth quarter and the full year on March 5.

The flash estimate’s seasonally-adjusted data showed an increase of 0.6 per cent in domestic consumption during the fourth quarter (up by five per cent on an annual basis), along with a 2.1 per cent drop in gross fixed capital formation (which fell by 1.2 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2018).

Exports rose by 0.1 per cent during the fourth quarter but were 1.5 per cent lower compared to the same period of 2018), while imports were one per cent down compared to the previous quarter (and 2.7 per cent lower on an annual basis), resulting in a trade surplus of 686.9 million leva or 2.1 per cent of GDP.

Bulgaria was one of 15 EU countries to record economic growth during the fourth quarter, with the EU economy as a whole and the euro zone both expanding by 0.1 per cent, according to a flash estimate by EU’s statistics body Eurostat. In the previous quarter, the euro area and EU28 economy both grew by 0.3 per cent, Eurostat said.

Eurostat figures showed the UK and Germany’s economies recorded zero growth, while French, Italian and Finnish economic growth was negative. Eight countries were yet to report third-quarter data – Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden.

In annual terms, the EU economy grew by 1.1 per cent compared to Q4 2018, down from 1.4 per cent recorded in the previous quarter, and the euro zone economy grew by 0.9 per cent in annual terms, down from 1.2 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.

(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)

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