Bulgaria’s current account deficit for the first two months of the year widened to 1.29 billion leva from 1.11 billion euro reported during the same period a year ago, data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) shows.

The figure is 3.9 per cent of Bulgaria’s target gross domestic product (GDP) for this year.

In February alone, the current account deficit came in at 594.3 million euro, an increase from 472.8 million euro in February 2007.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects the current account gap will surpass 22 per cent of GDP this year, as does the Government. The BNB’s latest forecast sees the current account deficit on par with the 2007 figure, at 21.6 per cent of GDP.

In the first two months of the year, the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow came in at 432.3 million euro, a 15.3 per cent year-on-year increase from 374.9 million euro during the same period a year ago. FDI covers 33.5 per cent of the current account deficit. The coverage during the comparable period a year ago came in at 33.7 per cent.

Greece topped the investor ranking with 13.2 per cent of total FDI for the period. Germany came second with 11 per cent. Luxembourg, Cyprus and Russia rounded up the top five investor ranking with a share of FDI of, respectively 11 per cent, 7.4 per cent and 5.6 per cent.