SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s economic output grew 14.7% in the second quarter from the same period last year and rose 8% in the first half of 2021, a central bank projection based on available data showed on Tuesday.
The bank said the rise in gross domestic product was due to economic recovery in the European Union, the Balkan country’s main trade partner.
“All monthly data, especially retail trade, industrial output and export indicate that a historically high increase of local economy in the second quarter has been recorded,” the bank said in a statement, adding that it might revise up its earlier projection of a 3.4% rise of GDP for 2021.
The bank forecast inflation in 2021 at 1.2%, up from an earlier forecast 0.6%. It explained that the rise was primarily due to a low baseline effect in 2020 when oil prices were at a record low, and the rise in prices of raw materials, transportation and demand.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic: Editing by Ivana Sekularac, William Maclean)