Bulgaria’s current account surplus narrowed 69% y/y to €371.1mn in the first 11 months of 2014 largely because of the expanding foreign trade gap, preliminary central bank data showed. The surplus equalled 0.9% of the full-year GDP projection, compared to 2.9% a year earlier.
The drop in exports to non-EU countries, coupled with a small increase in total imports, contributed to a widening of the merchandise trade deficit by 20.3% y/y to €2.5bn. In addition, the net current transfers surplus contracted 32% y/y to €1.5bn.
On the other hand, the net income deficit shrank 7.4% y/y to €1.1bn, while the services surplus increased 10.1% y/y to €2.5bn due to a rise in net transport revenue that offset falling net tourism income and shrinking revenue from other services.
The capital account surplus increased 84.5% y/y to €821mn. Meanwhile, the financial account recorded a surplus of €1.4bn, compared to a deficit of €2bn a year ago, due to the surge in foreign ownership of local debt after the €1.5bn Eurobond the government issued in June.
| Balance of payments, € bn | Jan-Nov 2013 | Jan-Nov 2014 | Change y/y | |
| Current account | 1.2 | 0.4 | -69.0% | |
| Trade balance | -2.1 | -2.5 | 20.3% | |
| Services balance | 2.2 | 2.5 | 10.1% | |
| Income balance | -1.2 | -1.1 | -7.4% | |
| Current transfers, net | 2.3 | 1.5 | -32.0% | |
| Capital account | 0.4 | 0.8 | 84.5% | |
| Financial account | -2.0 | 1.4 | / | |
| FDI in Bulgaria | 1.5 | 1.2 | -20.8% | |
| Reserve assets* | 0.8 | -1.5 | / | |
| *A negative sign indicates an increase in international reserves. | ||||
| Source: BNB | ||||
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