31.03.2021

The central government debt^[1] as at end-February 2021 stood at BGN 28,935.2 million, registering a reduction of around BGN 33.0 million as compared to end-2020. Domestic debt amounted to BGN 5,989.8 million and external debt – to BGN 22,945.3 million.

At the end of the reporting period the central government debt/GDP^[2] ratio was 23.2 %, which represents a reduction of approximately 1 p.p. as compared to the end of the previous year.   The domestic debt/GDP and external debt/GDP ratios have also decreased from 5.0 % to 4.8 % and from 19.3 % to 18.4 %, respectively. In the central government debt structure, the share of domestic debt and of external debt has remained at 20.7% and 79.3%, respectively.

As regards the debt structure by instruments, as of 28 February 2021 the main share continued to belong to bonds issued on international capital markets (IPC) – 61.5 %, followed by government securities (GS) issued on the domestic market – 19.5 %, and government loans – 19%. As regards the interest structure of debt, the trend for predominance of debt with fixed interest rate (97.7 %) was preserved; as regards the currency structure of debt, the debt instruments denominated in EUR and BGN continued to have a large relative share (99.7 %). As regards the maturity structure of the debt by original maturity, the debt instruments with maturity of over 10 years have the largest share – 68.3 %, followed by those with maturity from 5 to 10 years – 28.8%, and those with maturity of up to 5 years – 2.9%. As regards the structure by residual maturity, there is a balanced distribution of the forthcoming maturities – 41.3 % in the period up to 5 years, 31.7 % in the period from 5 to 10 years and 26.9% in the period over 10 years.

As of end-February 2021, the central government guaranteed debt was BGN 228.4 million. Domestic guarantees amounted to BGN 72.3 million and external guarantees – to BGN 155.2 million. The central government guaranteed debt/GDP ratio is 0.2 %.

According to the official register of government and government guaranteed debt, kept by the Ministry of Finance on the grounds of Article 38, paragraph 1 of the Government Debt Law, at end-February 2021 the government debt reached BGN 27,519.6 million, being 22.1 % of GDP. Domestic debt amounted to BGN 5,660.0 million and external debt – to BGN 21,859.5 million. 

Government guaranteed debt in February 2021 amounted to EUR 1,712.5 million; domestic guarantees amounted to BGN 73.2 million, with the government guaranteed debt/ GDP ratio being 1.4 %.

The Bulletin is published in the Statistics Section/Central Government Debt and Guarantees Monthly Bulletin.

Note: In accordance with Article 36, para.3 of the Public Finance Law /in force from 01.01.2014, prom. SG, issue No 15 of 15.02.2013, amended SG No 95 of 8.12.2015; amended and supplemented, SG No 43 of 7.06.2016, SG No 91 of 14.11.2017/, starting from June 2016, the Ministry of Finance publishes a Central Government Debt and Guarantees monthly bulletin. Information about the amount, structure and dynamics of the government and government guaranteed debt (undertaken under the procedure of the Government Debt Law), as published in the Government Debt bulletin until May 2016, is included in the attachment on page 11 of the new bulletin.

^[1] Central government debt is the debt of the central government pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 of 25/05/2009 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community. List of the entities which, in addition to public authorities and institutions, are included in the central government as per the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (ЕСС 2010) as well as the Manual on government deficit and debt of Eurostat (the Commission) can be found HERE.

^[2] Forecast data of the Ministry of Finance.