UniCredit Bulbank’s Economic Research Team received for a third year the award for the most accurate forecast from the international provider of economic analyses and forecasts Consensus Economics. The accuracy of the forecasts refers to the forecast for the growth of the economy (GDP) and for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2015 in competition with local and international private analyzing units.

This has been the second award for the forecasts of the bank’s economic team since the beginning of the year, after in May a similar award was received from another international provider of economic analyses and forecasts – Focus Economics. The Economic Research Team is managed by Kristofor Pavlov, chief economist of UniCredit Bulbank.

The ranking of Consensus Economics for the Eastern European region is prepared for a third consecutive year and includes dozens of participants who observe 14 countries from the region, submitting their forecasts monthly. The panelists for each country come from the private sector only and are analysts from companies from the financial sector, rating agencies and other private analyzing companies. The methodology of the research collects the submitted forecasts for 2015 throughout the period January 2014 – December 2015 and selects the participants with the smallest deviation from the actual reported value of the specific indicator for the year. This method of calculating encourages the consistency of the forecast and its sustainability in the long term. The examined indicators for all countries from the region are the GDP dynamics and inflation.

The forecasts of UniCredit’s economists won the accuracy award from Consensus Economics in Slovakia as well, where the Group is represented by UniCredit Bank.

More information on the methodology of the research, the winners for the respective countries and information about Consensus Economics is available here: http://www.consensuseconomics.com/Accuracy_Awards/Forecast_Accuracy_Awards_Eastern_Europe_2015.html

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Mara Bareva, Phone: +359 2 9264 963, nbsb/cbsfwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Beatris Nikolova, Phone: +359 2 9232 528, cfbusjt/ojlpmpwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch