December 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's current account deficit through October rose to a preliminary 17% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for 2007 from 10.5% a year earlier, the central bank said on Wednesday.
The country's current account balance for the first ten months of 2007 showed a deficit of 4.554 billion euro ($ 6.687 billion), as compared to a 2.647 billion euro gap in the same period last year, the central bank said in a statement.
Bulgaria's trade deficit through October widened to 5.778 billion euro from 4.219 billion euro in the first ten months of 2006.
Bulgaria ended 2006 with a current account deficit of 15.8% of the projected GDP. The Finance Ministry said in October it expects the country's current account gap to reach 20% of GDP this year and further swell to 21.9% of GDP in 2009.
($ =0.6810 euro)