Bulgaria's first-half current account deficit was equivalent to a preliminary 1.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for 2012, up from 0.2% of GDP a year earlier, the central bank said on Wednesday.
At the end of June, the current account showed a deficit of 460.1 million euro ($567 million), compared to a gap of 78.7 million euro a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement.
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Bulgaria totalled 221.4 million euro through June, equivalent to 0.6% of the projected GDP, up from 63.2 million euro a year earlier.
Bulgaria posted a trade deficit of 1.99 billion euro through June, equivalent to 5.0% of the projected GDP. In the first six months of 2011 the country ran a trade deficit of 898.6 million euro.
Exports rose by 2.8% on the year to 9.92 billion euro in the first six months of 2012, while imports rose by 12.9% to 11.9 billion euro.