Bulgaria's H1 GDP Growth Accelerates to 7.1% Y/Y from Revised 6.5% Y/Y in H1'07

The country's first-half GDP reached 29.429 billion levs ($21.2 billion/14.8 billion euro), calculated in current prices, NSI said in a statement.

The Bulgarian economy grew by 7.1% in the second quarter, compared to 7.0% in the first quarter and to 7.3% in the second quarter of 2007.

In 2007, the country's GDP grew by 6.2% in real terms, a bit slower than the 6.3% rise in 2006.

Bulgarian government officials have said they expect the country's economy to continue to grow at an annual rate of above 6.0% over the next few years. The government sees the country's economy rising by a real 6.2%-6.5% for the whole of 2008.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)