site.btaCentral Bank: April Trade Balance in EUR 225.7 Mln Deficit

The country's trade balance for April 2022 was negative at EUR 225.7 million with a deficit of EUR 4.5 million for April 2021, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said on Friday.

In the January-April 2022 period, the trade balance was negative at nearly EUR 1.35 billion (1.8% of GDP) with a deficit of EUR 517.6 million (0.8% of GDP) for the same period of 2021.

Exports of goods in April amounted to over EUR 3.9 billion, an increase of nearly EUR 959 million (32.4%) compared to April of last year. In January-April 2022, exports amounted to almost EUR 14.4 billion (19.1% of GDP), an increase of over EUR 3.5 billion (32.8%) compared to the same period in 2021.

Imports of goods in April amounted to over EUR 4.1 billion, an increase of almost EUR 1.2 billion (39.8%) compared to April 2021 (EUR 2,962.3 million). In January-April 2022, imports amounted to almost EUR 15.7 billion (20.9% of GDP), increasing by nearly EUR 4.4 billion (38.6%) compared to the same period in 2021.

The balance of services in April was positive at EUR 280.3 million compared to a positive balance of EUR 309.3 million in April 2021. In the January-April period the balance was positive at EUR 1.250 billion (1.7% per cent of GDP) with a surplus of nearly EUR 1.1 billion (1.6% of GDP) for the first four months of last year.

The current and capital account of the country for April was positive and amounted to EUR 325.1 million with a surplus of EUR 95.7 million for April 2021. In the January-April 2022 period, the current and capital account was negative and amounted to EUR 859.1 million (1.1% of GDP) with a surplus of EUR 358.6 million (0.5% of GDP) for January-April 2021.

The capital account for April was positive and amounted to EUR 162.2 million with a positive value of EUR 8.8 million for April 2021. In the January-April 2022 period, the capital account was negative - EUR 232.3 million (0.3% of GDP), with almost the same positive value (EUR 236.5 million - 0.3% of GDP) for January - April 2021.

The financial account for April 2022 was positive in the amount of almost EUR 655 million compared to a positive value of EUR 136 million for April 2021. In the January - April 2022 period, the financial account was positive - EUR 375.1 million (0 .5% of GDP), with a positive value of over EUR 1.6 billion (2.4% of GDP) for the same period in 2021.