Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Bulgarian economy between January and August 2014 exceeded the projection of the Invest Bulgaria Agency (IBA) for the whole year, IBA said on Tuesday. The amount attracted in the eight-month period was 1,221.4 million euros, which accounted for 3 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures published by the Bulgarian National Bank (the central bank) earlier in the day and analyzed by IBA.
This compares with 1,173.9 million euro in FDI (2.9 per cent of GDP) between January and August 2013, according to revised data. The level implies an increase by 4 per cent, or 47.5 million euro, year on year.
But if the January-August 2014 data is compared with non-revised data for January-August 2013, the increase is much larger, IBA said. The non-revised FDI level in January-August 2013 was 772.5 million euro (1.9 per cent of GDP). FDI numbers are revised by BNB in accordance with the calendar of the European Central Bank and, more often than not, the revised level is higher than the one estimated earlier.