Sat, Feb 11 2012

Bulgarian economy shrinks by 4.2% in H1

Thu, Sep 10 2009 12:43 CET

byAlex Bivol

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Bulgarian economy shrinks by 4.2% in H1

Photo: Valentina Petrova

Bulgaria's economy shrank by a real 4.2 per cent year-on-year for the first half of the year and 4.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2009, the country's National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on September 10. In the first quarter, the gross domestic product (GDP) was 3.5 per cent down compared to the same period of 2008.

In absolute terms, first-half GDP was 30.3 billion leva and second-quarter GDP was 16.3 billion leva.

In 2008, the Bulgarian economy grew by 7.1 per cent in the second quarter and the first half of the year, buoyed by the momentum accumulated during years of cheaply-available credit. The country officially entered a recession in the first quarter of 2009.

The biggest decline was posted by the industry, which shrank by 9.7 per cent year-on-year in the first half of the year. The agriculture sector shrank by 5.8 per cent and the services sector posted an annual increase of 1.9 per cent in January-June, NSI said in a statement.

Consumption, which was one of the main drivers of economic growth in recent years, was down an annual 4.5 per cent in the first half. Investment was down 15.4 per cent.

Exports shrank by 16.5 per cent year-on-year in the first half, while imports were down by an annual 22.7 per cent. Nevertheless, Bulgaria still had a trade gap of 4.36 billion leva for the first half of the year, down by 45.5 per cent year-on-year.

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