Real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of about 4 percent in the second half of last year. The gain was especially large in the last quarter of 2009, although a sizable chunk of that increase reflected a marked slowing in the pace of inventory liquidation.
The euro is also being increasingly used as an invoicing currency in the international trade of the countries in the region. In the case of Bulgaria, for which a longer span of data is available, we have seen that while 37% of Bulgarian exports were invoiced in euro in 2000, the figure had risen to 61% in 2003.