Sofia has to respond in order to restore its financial equilibrium, Danish Danske Bank recommended in a research published in the French business daily Les Echos as reported by mediapool.bg.

One year after Bulgaria's accession to the EU the country's economic situation was disturbing, but not alarming, the Les Echos article said. Inflation in 2006 was 6.5 per cent, while in November 2007 it reached 12.6 per cent. According to the research, the current account deficit for 2007 was expected to come close to 20 per cent.

According to Danske Bank these very unfavourable numbers placed Bulgaria in a “dangerous zone” together with Romania and the Baltic countries, mediapool.bg said. Unlike in neighbouring countries, however, Bulgaria's negative balance was not a result of the sharp increase of import aiming to satisfy increased consumption, but was mainly the outcome of investments' sustainable development, Danske Bank's research said.

When corrected for this phenomenon, Bulgaria's deficit should not exceed 8 per cent according to calculations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In order not to aggravate the current account deficit, Bulgaria's rulers could not pull out the currency card since Bulgaria's national currency – the lev, was tied to the euro. The experts recommended that Bulgaria do not loosen its budget policy since it helped reach a surplus of 3.5 per cent of GDP in October 2007, a lot more than the 2 per cent demanded by the IMF. Therefore Sofia's field of activity was quite limited, but the ruling coalition had to react so as not to let the current situation get worse, Danske Bank's experts said as reported by mediapool.bg.