The December 2017 issue of the Monthly Report on Bulgarian Economy was released. It assesses the short-term dynamics of main economic indicators.

Short-term business statistics showed some mixed performance in November. Industrial turnover accelerated, while retail sales, industrial production and construction production index slowed down. At the same time, both survey indicators on consumer confidence and overall business climate declined in December.

Registered unemployment stood at 7.1% in December, down by 0.9 pps yoy, as the overall number of registered unemployed declined significantly on a year earlier.

Consumer prices posted a 0.6% mom increase in December, as measured by the HICP, driven by higher prices of market services. Thus, the annual average inflation rate in 2017 stood at 1.2%, while the end-of-period inflation rate was 1.8% yoy.

In January-October 2017, the current account reached EUR 2.7 billion (5.3% of projected GDP). Since the beginning of the year, the total excess of assets over the liabilities in the financial account reached 6.6% of projected GDP.

The annual growth rate of credit to the private sector remained unchanged in November at 4.2% yoy. Weighted average interest rate on credits to non-financial corporations climbed by 46 bps, while weighted average interest rate on time deposits went down by 3 bps.

The surplus on the consolidated fiscal program as at end-November accounted for BGN 2.4 billion (2.4% of GDP). The positive fiscal outcome resulted from higher revenues over expenditure on the national budget at the amount of 2.6% of GDP, while EU funds account was on a minor deficit (0.2%).