Bulgaria's Q3 GDP climbs 0.1% q/q, up 0.5% y/y – flash estimate

In annual terms, the country's economy expanded by a seasonally-adjusted 0.5% in the third quarter, following a similar increase in the previous three months, the National Statistics Office (NSI) said in a statement.

In nominal terms the third-quarter GDP totalled 21.735 billion levs ($14.1 billion/11.1 billion euro), NSI said.

Last year Bulgaria's economy expanded by a real 1.7%, compared to a revised increase of 0.4% in 2010.

The government in Sofia has projected real economic growth of 2.3% in the 2012 state budget and it expects the country's GDP to grow between 2.5% and 4.0% annually in the 2013-2015 period.

NSI started publishing seasonally-adjusted quarterly GDP data in September 2010 in order to provide a better base for macroeconomic analyses.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)