In 2022: The Bulgarian Economy Grew Less than Expected according to Preliminary Data

The economy of Bulgaria has grown by 3.4% in 2022. This is shown by the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). The expectations of the European Commission and the IMF were for a growth of 3.9%, but the statistics are subject to correction over time.

For example, in the fall of last year NSI revised its data on the economy in 2021, and then the growth turned out to be 7.6%, and not as the preliminary data indicated - 4.2%. The reason for the revisions is that the initial flash estimates and preliminary GDP data are made with many assumptions and may change as more data becomes available.

For 2022, GDP reaches a nominal value volume of BGN 165.384 billion. BGN 24,252 of the volume of the indicator falls per person of the population.

At the same time, a report prepared for the subcommittee on tax matters of the EU recently showed that the Bulgarian economy would be over a third larger if the gray sector came to light. The share of "shadow" activity in our country is the highest among the EU countries. This means that, according to preliminary estimates for GDP, economic activity worth about BGN 55 billion last year remained off the radar of state authorities and official statistics, reported "Capital". The gross added value in the past year (the difference between the produced gross output and intermediate production costs) is BGN 145,614 billion.

The industrial sector creates 29.5% of the added value of the economy, which is an increase of 5.7 percentage points compared to 2021. The service sector decreases to 65.5% from 71.2% in 2021, and the agricultural sector remains unchanged - 5% of the added value.

The data for the fourth quarter shows that the economy is driven by final consumption, which accounts for...