Bulgaria's foreign trade gap contracts to 2.36B leva in January-July
Bulgaria's foreign trade deficit contracted by 1.608 billion leva to 2.362 billion leva in the first seven months of 2011, National Statistics Institute (NSI) preliminary data showed on September 9 2011.Excluding transport and insurance costs on imports, the trade balance was again negative at 1.155 billion.Exports rose by 36.9 per cent on the year to 22.4 billion leva, while imports were 24.8 billion leva, growing by an annual 21.8 per cent.In July alone, the trade balance was negative at 89.8 million leva. After eliminating transport and insurance costs on imports, the balance was positive at 99.2 million leva.Exports to third countries jumped by 35.1 per cent in annual terms to more than 8.6 billion leva, while imports went up by 24.2 per cent to 10.5 billion leva. Bulgaria's major markets outside the EU were Turkey, Serbia, Fyrom and China, which contributed 47.1 per cent to its total sales to non-EU countries in the period. Bulgaria also recorded a significant rise in exports to South Africa and Canada for January to July.The most significant increase in imports was recorded in shipments from Kazakhstan, South Africa, UAE, South Korea and Singapore, while purchases from Peru, Egypt and Vietnam saw the steepest decline. (Source: The Sofia Echo)