IMF Mission Head: Bulgarian Economy Might Fall into Recession

The head of the International Monetary Fund mission for Bulgaria, Bas Bakker, said Saturday that Bulgaria's economy might go into recession.

Bakker's latest statement was made in an interview for Bulgarian National Radio, and runs counter to the last IMF report on Bulgaria in February 2009, in which the Fund predicted that the Bulgarian economy would grow by 1% in 2009.

"If we look at other countries in the region, many of them are falling into recession. The decline in Western Europe is much steeper than expected. Yesterday's figures showed the January industrial production in the Eurozone declined by 17%, which is obviously hurting Bulgaria. At the same time, the inflow of capital is dropping unexpectedly quickly, so it is definitely possible that the Bulgarian economy might shrink this year", Bakker declared.

In his words, the Bulgarian government might be able to achieve a budget surplus of 2% of the GDP in 2009 only if it restricts the state spending to a minimum.

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