Bulgaria's Jan-Sept C/A Gap Shrinks to 6.3%/GDP - Table

November 13 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's nine-month current account gap narrowed to a preliminary 6.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for 2009 from 16.6% of GDP a year earlier thanks to a shrinking trade deficit, the country's central bank said on Friday.

The current account deficit fell to 2.114 billion euro ($3.174 billion) through September from 5.659 billion euro a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement.

In September alone Bulgaria ran a current account surplus of 24.3 million euro versus a gap of 606.8 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 3.230 billion euro in the first nine months of 2009, equivalent to 9.6% of the projected GDP, from 6.257 billion euro, or 18.3% of GDP, in the same period last year.

Exports fell 28.9% year-on-year to 8.470 billion euro through September, compared to a 21.1% annual rise in the first nine months of 2008.

Bulgaria's January-September imports decreased by 35.6% on the year to 11.7 billion euro. In the first nine months of 2008 imports rose by 23% on the year.

Foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country totalled 2.112 billion euro, or 6.3% of the projected GDP, and covered 99.9% of the current account deficit in January to September, compared to 89.7% in the year-ago period, when FDI was equivalent to 14.9% of GDP.

Details follow:

($ = 0.6717 euro)