27.04.2012

Amid sustained concerns about European economies, Bulgarian short-term business statistics showed some positive signs. Industrial turnover increased in February, as both foreign and domestic market sales contributed for the registered growth, business climate indicator also improved. March unemployment rate remained unchanged over the previous month, while annual HICP inflation kept slowing down.

According to April 2012 notification, approved by the Eurostat with no reservations, General Government deficit in 2011 stood at 2.1 % of GDP (ESA95), improving on the back of the successful fiscal consolidation carried out by the Government. Furthermore, Bulgaria ranked second among EU member states with the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP, which amounted to 16.3% at the end of 2011. Fiscal consolidation continued in 2012, thus consolidated budget deficit stood at 0.7% of GDP on a cash basis at end-February, down by 0.3 pps compared to a year earlier. Amid continuing headwinds on EU debt markets, the positive outcome achieved on Bulgarian government debt market in March was in line with the steady stabilization of long-term debt dynamics and decreasing yield on the secondary market.

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