Full-year inflation in Bulgaria will slow down to 6.9 per cent, Bulgarian Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski told SeeNews corporate newswire, re-iterating the figure targeted in this year's budget.

Last year inflation soared into the double digits, closing the year at 12.5 per cent. For the first two months of 2008, cumulative inflation was 2.6 per cent and year-on-year inflation at end-February was 13.2 per cent, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (NSI).

"We expect that the harvest will not be as bad as it was last year, that fuel prices will not go up at a rate as high as last year's and that we will not see last year's effect of joining the European Union, that euphoria for higher salaries which do not match productivity," Oresharski said.

The minister believes the current account deficit, seen as the main risk to the economic stability alongside inflation, will reach 21.9 per cent of GDP, in line with the previously announced governmental forecasts.

Foreign direct investments are also to be on a par with inflows last year, which were at 6.1 billion euro. Asked whether the global financial crisis would have an impact in Bulgaria, Oresharski said the negative effects would be minimal.