December 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by a real 5.7% on the year in the first nine months of 2007, slower than the 6.2% rise recorded in the same period a year earlier, the National Statistics Office (NSI) said on Wednesday.
The country's GDP for the nine months through September reached 40.132 billion levs ($29.525 billion/20.512 billion euro), calculated in current prices, NSI said in a statement.
The Bulgarian economy grew by 4.5% in the third quarter, slower than the 6.6% rise in the second quarter and the 6.7% growth in the third quarter of 2006.
In 2006, the country's GDP grew by 6.1% in real terms, a bit slower than the 6.2% rise in 2005. Bulgarian government officials have said they expect the country's economy to continue to grow by a real 6.4% in both of 2007 and 2008.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)