Bulgaria’s economy grew by 2.8 per cent last year, based on preliminary data, the country’s National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on March 7. In real terms, gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 was 202.9 billion leva in current prices, or 103.4 billion euro.
In the fourth quarter, Bulgaria’s economy grew by 0.9 per cent compared to the previous quarter and was 3.4 per cent higher year-on-year. In real terms, GDP in the last three months of 2024 was 57.59 billion leva or 27.49 billion euro.
The full-year economic growth figure fell short of the Cabinet’s 3.2 per cent target set in the 2024 Budget Act, but was well above the Finance Ministry’s most recent 2.2 per cent growth estimate, made in the macroeconomic framework accompanying the 2025 Budget Act, published last month.
Economic growth in 2024 also exceeded the 1.8 per cent recorded in 2023. NSI’s statistics releases do not, as a rule, include analysis of trends or factors influencing economic growth, such as the impact that Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine has had on Bulgaria’s economy.
NSI’s preliminary data gave a breakdown by key growth components only for the last quarter of 2024, not the full year.
The data showed domestic consumption rose by 0.9 per cent in the fourth quarter compared to Q3 and was 4.7 per cent higher on an annual basis. Gross fixed capital formation was up 2.9 per cent on a quarterly basis and 6.4 per cent year-on-year.
Exports in the fourth quarter rose by 0.2 per cent, while imports were 1.5 per cent higher. Year-on-year, exports were 1.4 per cent lower in the fourth quarter, while imports were 2.2 per cent higher.
In real terms, the fourth-quarter trade deficit was 1.39 billion leva, or 2.4 per cent of quarterly GDP, while the full-year trade balance showed a surplus of 4.72 billion leva, the equivalent of 2.3 per cent of GDP for the full year.
Source: https://sofiaglobe.com/
