Record breaker: Bulgaria's GDP up by 2% Q1 2015

The Bulgaria's economy jumped by 2% in the first quarter. This is a record for the past four years, as there has not been such a large GDP increase on an annual basis since 2011, National Statistics Institute data suggests.

Compared to the previous quarter Bulgaria's economy grew by 0.9%, which is also the best result of nearly five years. The growth is mainly a result of good indicators in the industrial sector, but the real estate transactions have also increased significantly by achieving the highest growth for the last five years.

In the first quarter of 2015 Bulgaria's GDP amounted to BGN 17.245 billion, thus BGN 2395per capita. Calculated in euros, the value of GDP was EUR 8.817 billion, with EUR 1,224 per person.

The share of agriculture in Bulgaria's economy decreased by 0.2% to 3%. Services also fell from from 66.2% to 65%. However, the share of industry in the economy increased by 1.4% to 32%.

The economic growth was also boosted by improvements in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (+5.1%), real estate (+4.5%), professional scientific and technical activities (+4%), industry (+3.4%) and others.