Bulgaria's Jan-June Trade Gap Widens

Bulgaria’s trade deficit increased by over 16% on the year in the first half of 2014, official figures showed on Monday.

The country’s foreign trade balance (exports FOB - imports CIF) showed a gap of BGN 4.182 B in the period January – June 2014, up BGN 583.9 M from the corresponding period of 2013, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) said.

Half-year exports decreased by 3.4% to BGN 20.1 B, while imports fell by 0.5% to BGN 24.3 B.

In June 2014 alone total exports rose 7.1% compared to the corresponding month of 2013, reaching BGN 3.7 B, mainly thanks to increased exports to other EU member states. Total imports decreased by 2.3% to BGN 4.1 B.

Turkey, Singapore, China, Russia, Macedonia and Serbia accounted for 54.9% of Bulgaria’s exports to third countries in January-June.

Germany, Italy, Romania, Greece France and Belgium absorbed 72.4% of Bulgaria’s exports to EU member states in the January-May. The NSI said it would announce more detailed trade figures for January-June 2014 at the beginning of September.

First-half exports to Russia fell 6.3% to BGN 495.8 M, while imports declined by 26.5% to BGN 3.44 B.

Bulgaria’s exports to Ukraine where pro-Russian rebels have been fighting the Ukrainian government forces, shrank by 68% year-on-year to BGN 113.4 M in January-June, while Bulgarian imports from Ukraine increased 21.7% to BGN 605 M.

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