Bulgaria's Q1 C/A Gap Widens to 0.9%/GDP
Bulgaria's first-quarter current account deficit was equivalent to a preliminary 0.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for 2012, up from 0.2% of GDP a year earlier, the central bank said.
At the end of March, the current account showed a deficit of 345.6 million euro ($443.9 million), compared to a gap of 87.6 million euro a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
Bulgaria posted a trade deficit of 803.1 million euro through March, equivalent to 2.0% of the projected GDP. In the first quarter of 2011 the country ran a trade deficit of 201.7 million euro.
Exports dropped by 3.3% on the year to 4.63 billion euro in the first three months of 2012, while imports rose by 8.9% year-on-year to 5.43 billion euro.
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Bulgaria totalled 236.8 million euro through March, equivalent to 0.6% of the projected GDP, compared to a negative value of 42.2 million euro a year earlier.