Bulgarian unemployment edges down to 11.6pc in April

SOFIA: Bulgarian unemployment edged down to 11.6 percent in April from 11.8 percent in March after hitting an eight-year high of 12.0 percent in February, official data showed on Friday.

The data covers only jobless people registered with the national employment agency, who numbered 380,485 last month.

Employers' groups meanwhile put the real jobless rate in the EU's poorest member above 18 percent, and over 40 percent for young people.

Deepening poverty, falling living standards, frozen incomes and the loss of 400,000 jobs over the past three years sparked over a month of massive street rallies this winter, ousting the right-wing government in late February and opening the way to snap elections on Sunday.

Bulgaria's stagnating economy and growing poverty will remain key issues after the vote, with official unemployment forecast to average 13 percent in 2013 compared to 11.1 percent last year.