Press releases

In July 2024, the number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad was 861.8 thousand, or 5.0% above the registered in July 2023. An increase was registered in the trips with holiday and recreation purposes - by 11.1%, and with other purposes (as a guest, education, and visiting cultural and sports events) - by 0.6%, while those with professional purposes decreased - by 1.0%.

The number of visits of non-residents to Bulgaria was 1 898.4 thousand, or 3.4% more in comparison with the same month of the previous year. An increase was registered in the trips with holiday and recreation purposes - by 8.6%, and with professional purposes - by 1.0%, while those with other purposes decreased by 2.3%.

Transit passes through the country were 35.7% (676.8 thousand) of all visits of non-residents to Bulgaria.

In the second quarter of 2024, 1.2 million Bulgarian residents made tourist trips. The majority of them - 71.3%, travelled only in the country, 22.6% - only abroad, and 6.1% - both in the country and abroad. Compared to the same quarter of 2023, the total number of travelled persons aged 15 and over increased by 3.1%.

In the second quarter of 2024 there was a 1.2% rise in the goods carried by freight transport in comparison with the previous quarter, while the transport performance remained unchanged.

Both the passengers carried by passenger transport (land, water and urban electrical transport) and the transport performance decreased by 1.7% and 5.8%, respectively. The data are preliminary and seasonally adjusted.

In the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year:

• The goods carried by land transported were 3.1% less, while the transport performance increased by 1.1%;
• The inland waterway and maritime transport carried 35.5 thousand tonnes more goods, whereas the performance, measures in tonne-kilometers, marked a 32.8% rise;
• The number of passengers carried by land transport rose by 0.7% as did the performance - by 8.4%;
• The water passenger transport marked a decline of 3.3 thousand passengers and the performance fell to 12 210 thousand passenger-kilometers;
• The urban electric transport enterprises carried 17.6 thousand passengers more and the performance also increased by 37.0%;

In the second quarter of 2024, the expenditure on acquisition of tangible fixed assets in all sectors of the economy amounted to 6 997 million BGN, which is 25.2% more as compared to the previous quarter. The data are preliminary.

Detailed data are published on the NSI website under the heading “Investments”.

At the end of June 2024 the number of employees under labour contract and contract according to the Civil Servants Act reached 98.9 thousands. The employees in Central administration were 56.4 thousands (57.0%) and in Territorial administration - 42.5 thousands (43.0%).

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Labour Market'.

The producer price index in Forestry decreased by 9.0% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year (on an annual basis).

The change is a result of the decrease in both the prices of wood in the rough from coniferous - by 8.3%, and non-coniferous trees - by 9.5%.

A decrease - by 11.7%, is observed as well in the prices of wood in the rough in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of 2023.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Forestry'.

In July 2024, the monthly inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 0.8% compared to the previous month, and the annual inflation rate in July 2024 compared to July 2023 was 2.4%.

In July 2024, compared to the previous month, the highest increase was registered in the following groups: ‘Recreation and culture’ (+8.7%), ‘Restaurants and hotels’ (+3.9%), ‘Transport’ (+0.9%), ‘Health’ (+0.4%) and ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ (+0.4%). Decrease in the prices was recorded in the groups: ‘Clothing and footwear’ (-3.0%) and ‘Communications’ (-0.6%).

The monthly inflation rate, measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), was 1.2% and the annual inflation rate was 2.8%.

According to the results of the Labour Force Survey, in the second quarter of 2024:

- The unemployment rate was 4.3%, by 0.3 percentage points lower compared to the second quarter of 2023;

- The employment rate of the population aged 15 - 64 increased by 0.7 percentage points in comparison with the same quarter of 2023 and stood at 71.0%;

- The activity rate of the population aged 15 - 64 was 74.1%, by 0.4 percentage points higher compared to the second quarter of 2023.

The data are from the Labour Force Survey - a sample statistical survey. It is carried out over a sample of non-institutional households. Quarterly, through personal interview, about 19.6 thousand households, randomly selected, are observed.

The producer price index in agriculture for the second quarter of 2024 decreased by 3.4% in comparison with the same quarter of 2023 as a result of a decrease in the price index of crop output - by 3.8% and in the index of animal output - by 3.0%.

In the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, the prices of agricultural output decreased by 4.2%, as in crop output they decreased by 4.3% and in animal output they decreased by 4.1%.

In crop output, in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same quarter of 2023, the most significant drop was recorded in the prices of cereals - by 18.0%. The trend also retained in comparison with 2023 (on an annual basis), with the decrease in cereals - by 15.0%.

In animal output, in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same quarter of 2023, the prices of live animals decreased by 1.4% and the prices of animal products decreased by 4.7%. Compared to 2023 (on annual basis), a decrease was reported in the prices of live animals - by 1.8% as well as in the prices of animal products - by 6.6%.

The agricultural consumer goods and services price index for the second quarter of 2024 decreased by 5.0% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and by 4.6% compared to 2023 (on an annual basis).

The biggest decrease, compared to the corresponding quarter of 2023, was recorded in the prices of: mineral fertilizers - by 21.2% and animal feedingstuffs - by 9.5%.

Compared to the previous year, the biggest decrease was in the prices of: mineral fertilizers - by 16.6%, and animal feedingstuffs - by 8.0%.

According to the seasonally adjusted data, GDP had a growth rate of 2.0% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of the previous year.