Bulgaria’s trade balance in August was negative at 260,7m euros, with a deficit of 160,7m euros in the same month last year. This is shown by the preliminary data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) on the balance of payments.
From January to August, the trade balance was in deficit by 1,723 billion euros with a deficit of 830,4 million euros for the same period last year.
The central bank reports that the current and capital account is in positive territory and amounts to 436,2 million euros with a surplus of 142,3 million euros for August 2020. For eight months it is up by 984,2 million. euro, while for the same period last year there was a surplus of 1,468 billion euros.
The BNB estimates that in August alone the current account balance was positive and amounted to EUR 328,3 million, up from EUR 66,8 million in the same month last year. From January to August the current account is positive and amounts to EUR 280,5 million with a positive balance of EUR 800,9 million for the same period in 2020.
In August, exports of Bulgarian goods amounted to EUR 2,830 billion and increased by 35,2% (EUR 737,5 million) compared to the same month last year (EUR 2,093 billion). In eight months, exports are estimated at 21,850 billion euros and increased by 23,7% (4,187 billion euros) compared to the period from January to August 2020 (17,663 billion euros).
According to the central bank’s statistics, exports for the eight months of 2020 decreased on an annual basis by 7,7%.
According to BNB data, imports in August alone amounted to EUR 3,091 billion, increasing by EUR 837,5 million (37,2%) compared to a year earlier (EUR 2,253 billion). In January-August it was 23,574 billion euros and increased by 27,5% (5,80 billion euros) compared to the same period last year (18,493 billion euros).
Imports for January - August 2020 decreased on an annual basis by 11,8%.
The balance under Direct Investment is minus EUR 157,8 million compared to a negative balance of EUR 292,6 million in August 2020. In eight months it is minus EUR 753,8 million with a negative balance of EUR 1,917 billion euro for the same period in 2020.
The balance under Portfolio Investment is up by EUR 410,2 million with a positive value of EUR 138,3 million for August 2020. For January-August it is positive at 1,734 billion with a positive value of 1,742 billion euro for the same period in 2020.
