November 7 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Thursday that it has lifted its forecast for Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) real growth to 3.6%, from 3.3% projected in July.
At the same time, the EU institution lowered its projection for Bulgaria's economic expansion in 2020 to 3.0% from 3.4% forecast previously, the European Commission said in its Autumn 2019 economic forecast.
The country's GDP is expected to expand by 2.9% in 2021.
"Domestic demand is expected to continue to lose some growth momentum, but remain the main growth driver," the Commission noted.
Domestic demand is likely to be supported by a strong wage growth in 2020 and 2021, according to the data.
"Risks to the forecast are mainly on the downside, associated with a potential sharp and protracted deterioration of external demand from the major trading partners and second-round effects through higher unemployment and lower domestic demand," the Commission noted.
Details follow:
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Real GDP growth |
3.6 |
3.0 |
2.9 |
Inflation |
2.4 |
1.6 |
2.1 |
Unemployment rate |
4.4 |
4.1 |
4.0 |
Current account |
5.5 |
5.5 |
5.4 |
Budget balance |
1.1 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
source: European Commission