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Bulgaria Country Report - June 2015
July 13, 2015
This report covers the key macroeconomic and financial releases for Bulgaria for the period from June 11, 2015 to July 10, 2015.
Fitch affirmed on June 19 Bulgaria's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at BBB- and BBB, respectively, with stable outlooks. Standard & Poor's affirmed on June 12 Bulgaria's BB+/B long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings with a stable outlook.
The World Bank has maintained its 2015 GDP growth forecast for Bulgaria at 1.1%, unchanged from January.
The country's business climate worsened m/m in June, following five consecutive months of improvement. The industrial production growth accelerated to 3.9% y/y in May from 1.6% y/y in April. The annual retail sales growth (at constant prices) speeded up to 0.8% in May from 0.5% in April. On the negative side, construction output fell y/y for the fifth consecutive month in May, with the decline deepening to 7% from 1.1% in April.
Key points:
• The consumer prices moved higher y/y for the third month in a row in May, rising 0.9%, following a 0.5% increase in April
• Bulgaria reported an estimated consolidated budget surplus of BGN850mn (€435mn), equal to 1% of the projected 2015 GDP, for January-June, the biggest first-half surplus since 2008, the finance ministry said in a preliminary estimate.
• The current account balance reported a surplus of €163.8mn in January-April, reversing a deficit of €436mn in the same period last year
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