According to Minister of Economy and Energy Delyan Dobrev, Bulgaria's gross domestic product is expected to mark a total growth of around 1% for 2012.
Dobrev in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio Sunday that "This GDP growth rate is unsatisfactory for us, but it's still something."
In contrast Bulgaria's state budget for 2012 optimistically forcasted a yearly GDP growth of 2.9%.
Sunday, Mr Dobrev pinned the slow growth on Bulgaria's failure to significantly increase its exports, something he explained with the lingering eurozone crisis. The ministry said that "72% of Bulgarian goods go to eurozone countries and only 28% to third parties."
Mr Dobrev argued that Bulgaria must steep up efforts to expand trade with markets outside the EU, especially in East Asia, and in particular China.
