17.01.2022

THE UN EXPECTS 4% GROWTH OF THE BULGARIAN ECONOMY

The UN predicts that Bulgaria's economy will grow by 4% in 2022 and by 3.5% in 2023.

The inflation expectations of the UN analysts for Bulgaria are the rate of price increase to be 1.9% this year and next.

However, in a report released late Thursday, the UN Department of Economics said there would be a slowdown in global economic growth as a whole - an increase of 4 percent in 2022 compared to a rate of 5.5 percent in 2021 and an even greater slowdown in 2023 - up to 3.5 percent, amid new waves of COVID-19, labor market problems, supply chain tensions and accelerating inflation.

On January 11, the World Bank forecasts 3.8% real growth of the Bulgarian economy in 2022 and 3.6% next year. The bank's outlook for the Bulgarian economy in 2022 was improved by 0.5% compared to its forecasts from July last year.

The World Bank report also highlights Bulgaria as one of the few countries in Europe and Central Asia that still provides fiscal support against the pandemic. Most countries have withdrawn budget support by the end of 2021, said the international lender, which groups Bulgaria with Kazakhstan, Northern Macedonia and Russia.

The World Bank expects global growth to slow by 2023 as the spread of COVID-19 variants, along with inflation, debt and inequality, exacerbates uncertainty.