Bulgaria Registers 0.1% GDP Growth Q2 2011 Y/Y

The Gross Domestic Product, GDP, increased by 0.2% in both the Eurozone and the EU during the second quarter of 2011, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates.

In the first quarter of 2011, growth rates were +0.8% in both zones.

The estimates were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 1.7% in both zones in the second quarter of 2011, after +2.5% in both zones in the previous quarter.

According to the seasonally adjusted data of Eurostat and the Bulgarian National Statistics Institute, NSI, the GDP growth rate in Bulgaria in the second quarter of 2011 is 1.9%, compared to the same quarter of the previous year and 0.1%, compared to the first quarter of 2011. The largest increase has been registered in the fourth quarter of 2010 - +3.8%.

Eurostat and NSI define flash estimates as "the earliest picture of the economy according to national accounts concepts, which is produced and published as soon as possible after the end of the quarter, using a more incomplete set of information than that used for traditional quarterly accounts."

According to the flash GDP estimates for the second quarter of 2011, the GDP in Bulgaria, at current prices, amounted to BGN 18 707 M, NSI further reports.

In the structure of GDP by the expenditure approach, the largest share in GDP has the final consumption (76.4%), which in nominal terms amounted to BGN 14 301 M. In the second quarter of 2011, the gross capital formation is BGN 4 573 M and has a share of 24.5% in GDP. The external balance (exports minus imports) was negative.

In the second quarter of 2011, gross value added of the total economy increased by 0.7%, compared to first quarter of 2011.

According to flash estimates of GDP by final expenditure, in the second quarter of 2011 final consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital formation recorded increase by respectively 1.3% and 4.4%. Exports of goods and services in the second quarter decreased by 0.5% compared to the previous one. During the same period, imports of goods and services increased by 2.4%.

During the second quarter of 2011, the gross value added increased by 1.2% compared to the same quarter of previous year. The indicator's movement is determined mainly by the increase recorded in the industry sector (3.3%) and services (1.3%). Agriculture has a negative contribution to value added with a decline of 7.4% over the period.

Regarding the expenditure component of GDP, a contributor to registered positive economic growth of 11.6% is the export of goods and services. The import of goods and services registered increase by 7.9%. Final consumption and gross fixed capital formation recorded increase by 0.9 and 9.5% compared to the corresponding quarter of previous year.

In the EU, in the second quarter of 2011, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, Lithuania has the highest economic growth – 5.9%, followed by Latvia – 5.7%, Sweden – 5.3% and Austria with 4.1%.

Portugal has negative growth with 0.9% while France and Hungary have 0 growth.

During the second quarter of 2011, GDP in the United States increased by 0.3% compared with the previous quarter (after +0.1% in the first quarter of 2011). In Japan, GDP fell by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2011 (after -0.9%).

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP rose by 1.6% in the United States (after +2.2% in the previous quarter), and decreased by 0.9% in Japan (after -0.7%).