Bulgaria’s 7-mo 2016 CA surplus at 2.8% of GDP; FDI decline by 14.8% YoY to EUR 987.3m

Bulgaria’s 7-mo 2016 current account came to a surplus of EUR 1 293.5m (2.8% of the expected 2016 GDP*) vs a surplus of EUR 380.5m (0.9% of the GDP) for the year-ago period. The January-July trade deficit was EUR 848.6m (1.9% of the GDP) compared to a deficit of EUR 1 392.3m (3.2% of the GDP) for January-July’15, as the exports (FOB) declined by BGN 268.7m YoY to EUR 12.7bn, while the imports decreased by EUR 812.3m YoY to EUR 13.5bn. The cumulative financial account closed at positive EUR 2 090.2m (net outflow according to BPM6) against positive EUR 2 057.1m in the year-ago period. The FDI declined to EUR 987.3m from EUR 1 158.2m in January-July’15; the net portfolio investments closed at negative EUR 1 146.8m (net inflow) vs negative EUR 1 588.0m in the year-ago period; and net other investments were positive EUR 1 689.3m against positive EUR 1 698.5m in 7-mo 2015. *GDP for 2016 of EUR 45 474m and EUR 44 162m for 2015