According to the latest estimates of Eurostat, which were released on Tuesday, the GDP of Bulgaria increased by 0.5 % in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2015.

This is slightly above the average GDP of the EU, which increased by 0.4 % compared to the previous quarter.

The GDP of Bulgaria increased by 2.2 % compared to the same quarter in 2014, which is again above the average economic growth of the EU for the past year, which stood at 1.9 %.

In the second quarter of 2015, GDP increased in all member states, except France where it retained its level from the previous quarter.

The largest growth was registered in Latvia (1.2 %), followed by Malta (1.1 %), the Czech Republic, Spain and Sweden (1 %), while the lowest increases were reported in the Netherlands, Austria and Romania (0.1 %).

During the second quarter of 2015, household final consumption in the EU-28 increased by 0.4 %, gross fixed capital formation dropped by 0.1 %, exports rose by 1.6 %, while imports grew by 0.8 %.