Bulgaria 9-mo C/A Surplus Falls to 0.5%/GDP
Bulgaria's current account surplus in the January-September period was equivalent to a preliminary 0.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for 2012, down from 2.3% of GDP a year earlier, the central bank said.
At the end of September, the current account showed a surplus of 206.1 million euro ($262.9 million), compared to a surplus of 895.5 million euro a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement on Friday.
Bulgaria posted a trade deficit of some 2.72 billion euro through September, equivalent to 6.9% of the projected GDP. In the first nine months of 2011 the country ran a trade deficit of 1.27 billion euro.
Exports in the first nine months of 2012 rose by 2.2% to 15.43 billion euro, while imports went up by 10.9% to 18.15 billion euro.
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Bulgaria totalled 971.8 million euro through September, equivalent to 2.5% of the projected GDP, up from 711.9 million euro a year earlier.