December 14 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it sees Bulgarian economy expanding by an annual 3.9% in 2017 and 2018, keeping up the growth pace of 2016.
"The economy is performing well. Real GDP growth has been on an upward trend for five consecutive years, reaching 3.9 percent in 2016 and we project broadly similar growth for 2017 and 2018," the fund said in a concluding statement after an IMF mission visited Bulgaria.
Policymakers are facing the challenge to translate economy's recovery into durable and inclusive convergence of people’s incomes toward levels prevailing in the richer EU partners, the IMF added.
The fund outlined rules-based governance and more efficient government as key to support sustained and inclusive income convergence.
The country should work for a better efficiency of public expenditure, improved management of state-owned enterprises including the Bulgarian Development Bank, and an even stronger financial stability framework.
"The underlying supervisory policies and practices need to foster a market-based allocation of savings that contributes to stronger and sustained growth, while also serving as a line of defence against corrupt business practices," the IMF said in the statement.
According to the fund's statement the country's public goods need improvement. Public infrastructure is seen lagging in terms of quality, which calls for enhancing the impact of domestically and EU-funded spending on investment.
Healthcare is expensive, given the outcomes it produces, it added. Education appears underfunded if the objective is to raise outcomes to levels achieved in EU partners.