In its spring report, the European Commission affirms its macroeconomic forecast of the growth rate of the Bulgarian economy for this and next year, while at the same time expecting domestic consumption to continue to be the main growth driver.
The new Commission report reads that the real GDP growth remained robust in 2016 at 3.4 percent, driven by buoyant net exports and private consumption. In contrast, investment growth was significantly negative at -4 percent in 2016, mainly due to a low absorption of EU funds.
In 2017, real GDP growth is projected to reach 2.9 percent, as in the winter forecast, and then slightly taper off to 2.8 percent in 2018, affirming the winter forecast. Domestic demand is expected to be the main growth engine, driven in particular by private consumption and investment following the acceleration in EU funds absorption under the 2014-2020 EU programming period.
Risks to the growth outlook are broadly balanced, the report reads. As a domestic downside risk, a significantly slower than expected implementation of EU funds could dent investment and growth. Given the openness of the economy, weaker import demand from the main trading partners, especially in Europe, and surging oil prices would pose external downside risks. On the upside, stronger-than expected consumer confidence and faster progress with reforms could lift real growth rates, the European Commission spring forecast indicates.
Until the end of 2024, businesses will continue to receive compensations for high electricity prices. They will be 100% after a price of over 90 euros per megawatt hour on the stock exchange. The previous threshold was 100 euros. The..
Deposits in banks for the first quarter of 2024 have reached a record level of 75.4 billion euros. From January to March, deposits grew by EUR 1.35 billion or by 1.8%. The rise is mainly due to increased household deposits, the..
Although bilateral trade reached nearly $4 billion last year, there are still untapped opportunities to further increase Bulgarian exports to China. This was made clear at a meeting between the Minister of Economy and Industry, Mr. Petko Nikolov, and..
Until the end of 2024, businesses will continue to receive compensations for high electricity prices. They will be 100% after a price..
+359 2 9336 661