Bulgaria's GDP growth will continue to slow down at the beginning of 2023 and will slightly decrease in the second quarter of the year, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) forecasts. "This will be driven by the projected decline in the economy's inventories and weaker exports of goods in view of the deteriorating global economic activity," the BNB said in its quarterly Economic Review.

At the end of 2022, inflationary pressures in the economy remained strong despite the weakening of the pro-inflationary impact of energy sources. This was due to "higher year-on-year net fiscal transfers to households and higher wages and salaries in the budget area", the analysis said.