Bulgaria's Finance Ministry has reacted to Thursday's drastic lowering of the European Commission economic forecast for the country with a relativistic approach.

Bulgaria's economy will register a growth of 1.4% in 2012, stated the February Interim Economic Forecast of the European Commission unveiled Thursday.

Brussels's new growth forecast for Bulgaria is 0.9 pp lower than it was in November 2011; it estimates Bulgaria's 2011 GDP growth at 1.8%, after the 0.2% growth in 2010.

"In spite of the lowered forecast, the European Commission ranks Bulgaria fifth in the EU by projected 2012 economic growth," the Bulgarian Finance Ministry has reacted in a special statement.

It stressed that the EC does not have any expectations that Bulgaria might slip into a recession, and points out that Bulgaria's economic growth is expected to be weaker in the first half of the year, and to grow stronger towards the end of 2012.

"We remind that Bulgaria's 2012 budget has been drafted conservatively with a 1% GDP growth projection. According to the EC document, nine EU member states will see negative growth in 2012, one will have zero growth, and 17, including Bulgaria, will have positive growth," said the Bulgarian Finance Ministry.

It also mentioned the major indicators of the Bulgarian economy assessed positively by the European Commission: the stability of the banking sector, public finances, gradual recovery of domestic demand, and the stabilization of the labor market.

At the end of 2011, Bulgaria's Finance Minister Simeon Djankov announced that the 3.7% economic growth projected in the 2012 State Budget Act was too optimistic and the Bulgarian government lowered its forecast to 2.3.%. He later said the budget had been modified to work out even in the even of a 1% GDP growth in 2012.

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