Consumer confidence declined by 7.6 points from January to April 2009, while retail revenues in April were nine per cent lower than in the same month of 2008, Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on June 30.
 
Real GDP was 3.55 per cent lower in the first quarter than in Q1 2008, the NSI said.
 
On July 1, Dnevnik said that its survey of retailers had found that the Bulgarian retail association reported a 30 to 40 per cent decline in turnover among its members, mainly garment traders, since the beginning of 2009.
 
Household appliances and electronics chains reported sliding sales in the first months of 2009 with a modest recovery towards the middle of the year, while on the other hand, fast-moving consumer goods retailers registered flat sales but lower prices.
 
With their incomes thinning out, households were trying to save, said Georgi Ganev of the Centre for Liberal Strategies. Consumption would contract further in the coming months, at a pace matching the slowdown of economic activity, he said.
 
A day earlier, Dnevnik, quoting Registry Agency figures, said that in the first four months of 2009, the number of companies declared bankrupt nearly doubled, from 67 to 118.
 
Vassil Velev, chairperson of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, said that so far, companies had drawn on accumulated profits to try to survive, but unless business picked up, they were certain to experience serious difficulties in the autumn.