UPDATE 2 - Bulgaria's H1 GDP Grows 7.1% Y/Y - Table

The country's first-half GDP reached 29.428 billion levs ($21.2 billion/14.8 billion euro) calculated in current prices, NSI said in a statement.

The Bulgarian economy grew by 7.1% in the second quarter, compared to 7.0% in the first quarter and 7.3% in the second quarter of 2007.

Production in the agricultural sector grew by 11.7% on the year in the second quarter while the industry expanded 7.2%.

“Data that we have show a strong growth in grain production, including wheat, maize, barley, rye. Mainly plant-growing is the reason for the growth (in the agricultural sector),” Todor Todorov, head of macroeconomic statistics department at NSI, told a news conference.

Last year floods, drought and hailstorms damaged both spring-sown and autumn crops and the output of the agricultural sector shrank by almost one third.

In the industry sector, metallurgy and production of metals registered a 20.5% growth in the second quarter, and non-metal mining products and minerals grew by 11.4%, Todorov said.

Among the fast-growing sectors were also rubber and chemicals production with a year-on-year rise of 15% and 26% , respectively, in the second quarter, he added.

In 2007, the country's GDP grew by 6.2% in real terms, a bit slower than the 6.3% rise in 2006.

Bulgarian government officials have said they expect the country's economy to continue to grow at an annual rate of above 6.0% over the next few years. The government sees the country's economy rising by a real 6.2%-6.5% for the whole of 2008.

Details on Bulgaria's GDP follow:

* revised figures

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)