March 30 (SeeNews) - UniCredit Bulbank, part of Italy's UniCredit Groupр said it has affirmed Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forcast of 4.4% for 2018.
"Economic growth is likely to reach a cyclical peak of around 4.4% in 2018, before easing marginally to 4.2% in 2019. Last year, growth was supported by two main drivers: exports and private consumption," UniCredit Bulbank said in its quarterly CEE Macro and Strategy report.
Consumption will be the key growth engine in 2018, slowing only marginally compared with 2017. It will be backed mostly by wage growth than by higher employment.
In 2017, the Bulgarian economy expanded by 3.6%, according to the report, slowing down from 3.9% in 2016.
"Had it not been for the under-execution of public capex, GDP growth would have reached 4.5% or perhaps even more last year," the bank added.
According to the report, the recovery in private investment, which started last year, is expected to get stronger in 2018 and 2019.
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