News
11.09.2009
Bulgaria GDP Fall Deteriorates to 4,9% in Q2
Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 4,9% in the second quarter of 2009 on an annual basis, the first time that the country's GDP marked a drop year-on-year in two successive quarters since the financial and economic crisis in 1997.
The country's GDP shrank by 3,5% in the first quarter of 2009 on an annual basis.
Bulgaria, the European Union's poorest member, has already entered recession with its economy shrinking 5% from January to March and contracting 1.6% in the fourth quarter on a quarterly basis.
The county has seen its tax revenues falling as foreign investors flee, exports plunge and companies cut output.
Bulgaria's exports and imports shrank 15.8 % year-on-year and 24.3 % year-on-year in the second quarter, the statistics office's data showed.
Consumption wend down by an annual 3.7 % in the second quarter from a 5.4 % drop in the first quarter.
Industrial output shrank 7.2 % from April to June, the growth of services slowed down to 1.4 %. Investment shrank by 16.3 % in the second quarter after dropping 14.1% in the first quarter of 2009.
The government expects the contraction of Bulgaria's economy to slow down to 2% next year from a 6,3% shrinking in 2009.
Novinite