Bulgaria's Q4 GDP Climbs 0.1% Q/Q, Up 0.5% Y/Y
Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) inched up by a quarterly 0.1% from October to December following a similar increase in the previous three months, a seasonally-adjusted flash estimate of the statistics office indicated.
In annual terms, the country's economy expanded by a seasonally-adjusted 0.5% in the fourth quarter, as it did in the previous three months, the National Statistics Office (NSI) said in a statement.
In nominal terms the fourth-quarter GDP totalled 21.017 billion levs ($14.39 billion/10.75 billion euro), NSI said.
The country's economy for the entire 2012 has expanded by an estimated 1.0%, according to finance minister Simeon Dyankov. The estimate places Bulgaria as the EU member state with the fifth largest economic growth in 2012, right behind Estonia, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, in a year in which six of Europe's largest economies posted a decline, Dyankov said in a statement posted on the website of the finance ministry.
The latest 2012 growth estimate of the finance ministry coincides with the International Monetary Fund's forecast for 1.0% rise in Bulgaria's GDP. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has projected a similar growth rate of 1.1% for last year.
In 2011 Bulgaria's economy expanded by a real 1.7%, compared to a revised increase of 0.4% in 2010.