Bulgaria: trade deficit widens – current account slides deep into the red
According to the central bank, imports rose 14.1 per cent from January to August, exports only 10.1 per cent. The current account deficit reaches 4.5 per cent of GDP.
Archive image · Photo: Ivanov id / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5 (cropped and resized)
Bulgaria's deficit in goods trade widened in August. According to data from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) reported by the BTA news agency, it stood at 535.3 million euros, compared with 463.4 million euros a year earlier. Exports rose 21.4 per cent in August to around 4.04 billion euros, imports by 20.7 per cent to around 4.57 billion euros. From January to August exports grew by 10.1 per cent, but imports by 14.1 per cent. The trade deficit for the period totalled around 7.12 billion euros, or 5.7 per cent of gross domestic product.
The current account has also deteriorated markedly. In the first eight months it showed a deficit of around 5.55 billion euros, or 4.5 per cent of GDP, compared with 1.9 per cent in the same period last year. The surplus in services trade shrank to around 5.35 billion euros. Foreign direct investment, on the other hand, doubled to around 3.83 billion euros from 1.91 billion a year earlier. In its latest forecast the BNB had already stressed that net exports are holding back growth, while private consumption is driving the economy.