Bulgaria's finance ministry said it expects an economic growth of 1.4% in 2012 instead of the 2.3% forecast in this year's budget bill.
The slowdown in economic growth is expected to be due mainly to the low contribution of net exports, the ministry's National Programme for Reforms 2012-2020, published on its website on Monday, indicated.
Booming exports were the main driver of Bulgaria's economic recovery in the last two years. However, in the past few months they have been losing steam with January exports dropping 10.2% on the year.
Bulgaria's gross domestic product grew 1.7% last year after a 0.4% increase in 2010.