Bulgaria Jan-July current aacount at 0.9pc/GDP surplus

SOFIA: Tourist receipts and a rise of the EU funds transfers pushed Bulgaria's current account to a surplus of 0.9 percent of gross domestic product in the first seven months of the year from a gap of 1.6 percent in the same period of 2012, data showed on Monday.

The surplus from January to July stood at 372.8 million euros ($494.31 million)compared to a deficit of 645.9 million euros in the same period a year earlier, central bank data showed.

For July alone the current account, the broadest gauge of the Balkan country's trade in goods and services, was in surplus of 245.8 million euros compared with a surplus of 278.7 million euros in the same month a year earlier.

But foreign direct investment, much needed to spur growth in the European Union's poorest country, dropped to 802.5 million euros through July from 1.2 billion euros a year ago.

The government sees the current account gap slightly easing to 1.1 percent of GDP this year, from a revised 1.3 percent gap in 2012, saying domestic demand will recover only marginally and will not fuel imports significantly over exports.