site.btaQ3 GDP Up 3.8% on Year

Sofia, January 9 (BTA) - In its regular monthly economic review, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria EAD reported a 3.8 per cent increase in GDP year on year in the third quarter of 2017.

Domestic demand was the key driver of GDP growth, unlike in the third quarter of 2016 when external demand was the main driver of the economy.

As part of domestic demand, final consumption contributed most to GDP growth (2.8 percentage points), while gross investments contributed a mere 0.8 pp. Consumption growth was pushed up by falling interest rates on deposits and consumer credit, as well as by pay rises, the bank's analyst Emil Kalchev said.

On the supply side, a solid contribution to GDP growth came, as expected, from services (2.2 pp), followed by manufacturing (0.9 pp) and agriculture (0.1 pp).

In the services sector, real estate operations contributed most (0.6 pp), followed by financial and insurance activities (0.5 pp) and government services, health, education and social work (0.5 pp).

Within industry, mining and manufacturing contributed 0.7 pp and construction 0.2 pp to GDP growth.

In the third quarter of 2017, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 per cent and the employment rate rose to 52.3 per cent.

The average monthly wage stood at 1,037 leva, 10.2 per cent more than in the third quarter of 2016, the review says.