SOFIA (Bulgaria), June 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's current account deficit was equivalent to a preliminary 1.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for 2012 in the first four months through April, up from 0.5% of GDP a year earlier, the central bank said on Friday.
At the end of April, the current account showed a deficit of 597.5 million euro ($750 million), compared to a gap of 204.1 million euro a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement.
Bulgaria posted a trade deficit of almost 1.22 billion euro through April, equivalent to 3.1% of the projected GDP. In the first four months of 2011 the country ran a trade deficit of 434.1 million euro.
Exports dropped by 1.7% on the year to 6.3 billion euro in the first four months of 2012, while imports rose by 9.8% to 7.5 billion euro.
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Bulgaria totalled 407.2 million euro through April, equivalent to 1.0% of the projected GDP, compared to 63.1 million euro a year earlier.
Details follow (in millions of euro):
| BALANCE OF PAYMENTS | Jan-Apr’12 | Jan-Apr’11 |
| CURRENT ACCOUNT | -597.5 | -204.1 |
| -Trade balance | -1,214.9 | -434.1 |
| -Balance of services | +147.2 | +199.0 |
| -Income balance | -309.4 | -426.3 |
| -Net current transfers | +779.6 | +457.3 |
| CAPITAL ACCOUNT | +20.9 | +17.6 |
| FINANCIAL ACCOUNT | -482.7 | -949.6 |
| Foreign direct investments in Bulgaria | +407.2 | +63.1 |
| TOTAL BALANCE | +6.8 | -923.1 |
($=0.7967 euro)