2024-07-03 11:17:46
Annual growth in credit to the private sector accelerated to 13.7 percent in April, up from 12.9 percent a month earlier. This is stated in the Monthly Review of the Bulgarian Economy, prepared by the “European Affairs and Economic Analysis” Directorate of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), published on the department’s website. The document presents the dynamics of the main macroeconomic indicators with data published until June 14.
The analysis reported that all credit segments continued to grow steadily, with loans to non-financial enterprises increasing by 8.6 percent versus 8.2 percent at the end of March.
During the month, the company overdraft accelerated slightly, in parallel with the improvement of the business climate indicator. At the same time, the decrease in bad and restructured loans was smaller compared to their decline in April 2023. Loans to households continued to accelerate – up to 18.6 percent (17.5 percent at the end of March), again simultaneously driven by consumer and housing loans. Both types of loans increased their growth rates to 14 percent and 23.9 percent, the analysis noted.
In the first quarter of the year, GDP growth reached 1.9 percent compared to the same period in 2023, the analysis also stated. All components except the change in inventories are considered to have a positive contribution to this. Growth in household consumption accelerated to 3.7 percent year-on-year, supported by steady growth in real disposable income. Investment in fixed capital increased by 8.4 percent, with the largest contribution being investment in the form of machinery and equipment. Exports of goods and services fell 2.5 percent, but were outpaced by a 3.9 percent decline in imports.
Monthly inflation according to HIPC (Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices) in May was 0 percent, i.e. the general level of consumer prices remained unchanged compared to the previous month, the material notes.
The annual HICP inflation rate accelerated by 0.2 pp. to 2.7 percent in May. The analysis stated that this was mainly due to an acceleration in energy commodity inflation from a year earlier (2.6 percent in May 2024 from 1.7 percent year-on-year in April) due to the base effect in the prices of transport fuels. They decreased by 2 percent month-on-month in May 2024, but in May 2023, compared to the previous month, their decline was stronger – by 3.8 percent, which also led to an acceleration of their annual rate of inflation . Core inflation also rose to 3 percent year-on-year in May from 2.5 percent in April, which was mainly due to the dynamics of services and more specifically transport services.