Bulgaria's Jan-Aug C/A Gap Shrinks to 6.6%/GDP - Table

October 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's current account gap narrowed to a preliminary 6.6% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) in the first eight months of 2009 from a revised 14.8% of GDP a year earlier thanks to a fall in trade deficit, the country's central bank said on Wednesday.

The current account deficit fell to 2.202 billion euro ($3.281 billion) through August from 5.052 billion euro a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement.

In August alone Bulgaria ran a current account surplus of 284.3 million euro versus a gap of 211.5 million euro a year earlier.

A shrinking trade gap was the main reason for the decrease in the current account deficit. Bulgaria's trade deficit fell to 3.095 billion euro in the first eight months of 2009, equivalent to 9.2% of the projected GDP, from 5.559 billion euro, or 16.3% of GDP, in the same period last year.

Exports fell 29.9% year-on-year to 7.423 billion euro through August, compared to a 22.7% annual rise in the first eight months of 2008.

Bulgaria's January-August imports decreased by 34.9% on the year to 10.518 billion euro. In the first eight months of 2008 imports rose by 24.5% on the year.

Foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country totalled 1.952 billion euro, or 5.8% of the projected GDP, and covered 88.6% of the current account deficit in January to August, compared to 91.2% in the year-ago period when FDI was 13.5% of GDP.

Details follow:

($ = 0.6712 euro)