Bulgaria: GDP growth stable at 3.5% year-on-year in Q1
A preliminary release by the Statistical Institute showed that the economy grew 3.5% on an annual basis in the first quarter, in line with growth in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth in the first quarter, which came in below FocusEconomics analysts’ expectations of a 3.8% expansion, was driven by stronger fixed investment and exports, while the external sector benefited from more moderate growth in imports.
A rudimentary breakdown showed that total consumption growth slowed markedly to 2.4% (Q4 2017: +3.8% year-on-year), while fixed investment jumped to 7.2% (Q4 2017: +4.5% yoy). Exports of goods and services sped up, growing 4.6% in the quarter (Q4 2017: +2.0% yoy), while growth in imports of goods and services eased to 6.8% (Q4 2017: +8.3% yoy).
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, growth ticked up to 0.8% from 0.7% in the fourth quarter last year.
More comprehensive data will be released on 7 June.