The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has criticized the Bulgarian government's budget plans for 2011, saying they are over-optimistic, particularly on the revenue side.
The government's economic-growth estimate for 2011 will be difficult to achieve as "credit growth remains moribund" and consumer demand weak, Timothy Ash, global head of emerging-market research and strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, told Bloomberg agency in an e-mailed note.
Bulgaria aims to have a budget deficit of 2.5% of gross domestic product and agrowth of 3.6% in 2011.
The country's gross domestic product marked a slight increase of 0.2% in the third quarter on an annual basis after adjusting to seasonal variations, well below analysts' forecasts.
The European Union's poorest country, faced its first recession in 12 years after a three-year lending boom stalled and foreign investment dried up.
Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 1.4% year-on-year in the second quarter, slightly milder that the 1.5% drop forecast by a flash estimate, the statistics office said at the beginning of September.
The fall of Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to 3.6% on an annual basis in the first quarter of 2010 from 5,9% in the previous quarter. The country'sgross domestic product shrank 5% last year.
Bulgaria's government has revised up to 1% its economic growth forecast for this year as recovering exports bolster the expansion.
Novinite
