Bulgaria registered economic growth of 1.3% in the third quarter of 2011 year-on-year, according to preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute in Sofia.

At the same time, however, the Bulgarian economy is stagnating on quarterly basis as seasonally-adjusted GDP was unchanged in the third quarter.

The stagnation in the third quarter comes after the Bulgarian economy expanded by 2% in the second quarter, and by 3.3% in the first quarter of 2011 year-on-year, which marked the first considerable increase in economic growth since the country plunged into a recession.

In the second quarter, Bulgaria's seasonally adjusted GDP edged up by only 0.3% compared with the first quarter.

In absolute terms, Bulgaria's GDP amounted to BGN 21.171 B in Q3 2011, NSI said.

The added value of the economy in the third quarter amounted to BGN 18.148 B, of which 57.6% is formed by the services sector, 31.3% by industry, and 11.1% by agriculture.

In the third quarter the gross added value of the Bulgarian economy grew by 1.0% compared with the second quarter; the consumer spending grew by 0.4%.

Gross fixed capital formation decreased by 13.7%. Exports of goods and services in the third quarter increased by 1.4% compared to the previous one. During the same period, imports of goods and services decreased by 3.3%.

During the third quarter of 2011 gross value added increased by 2.5% compared to same quarter of the previous year. The indicator's increase is determined mainly by the increase recorded in the industry sector (4.1%) and services (1.9%). Agriculture has a negative contribution to value added with a decline of 0.1% over the period.

Bulgaria's government expects the 2011 economic growth to be 2.8%, and a growth of 2.9% in 2012.

The Fall Economic Forecast of the European Commission unveiled on November 10 says the Bulgarian economy will expand by 2.2 % in 2011 and by 2.3 % in 2012.