Bulgaria takes the third place in the EU for growth of the Gross Domestic Product, announced today on a conference Georgi Angelov, senior economist in the ‘Open society’ institute. He considers, though, that this is due to the world economy crisis which has already affected the countries in the EU, and Bulgaria still remains the poorest country in the union.

Angelov noted a growth of 32.7% of the investments for the first half of 2008. In agriculture the percentage is 6%, in service – 7%, industry – 7.4%. Some sectors of economy like construction register growth of 7.71% for the last three months. Still, this is a drop in comparison to the entire development of the sector in the last years.

‘Open society’ marks the absorption of the financial crisis, the election populism, the stopping of reforms, the loss of investment trust and lowering of the credit rating as risks for Bulgarian economy. The organization recommends the government to keep strong fiscal position, to limit extra expenses and careful policy of incomes in the state sector.

Another recommendation is raising flexibility of economy by structure reforms and improving business environment, keeping economical stability and the currency board and fasted preparation for entering the euro zone.