02.04.2025

The central government debt[1] as at end-February 2025 amounted to BGN 47,952.2 million, increasing by BGN 187.1 million as compared to end-January 2024, which is mainly due to the new debt issued on the domestic market of government securities that month. Domestic debt amounted to BGN 12,023.5 million and external debt – to BGN 35,928.7 million.

The central government debt/GDP ratio[2] is 22.3 %, increasing by 0.1 percentage points as compared to its level from the previous month. The domestic debt/GDP ratio is 5.6 % and the external debt/GDP ratio is 16.7 %. In the central government debt structure for February 2025, the share of domestic debt and of external debt was 25.1 % and 74.9 %, respectively.  

As regards the debt structure by instruments, as of 28 February 2025 the main share continued to belong to bonds issued on international capital markets – 63.9 %, followed by government securities issued on the domestic market – 24.6 %, and loans – 11.5 %. As regards the interest structure of debt, the trend for predominance of debt with fixed interest rate (99.3 %) was preserved; as regards the currency structure of debt, the debt instruments denominated in EUR and BGN continued to have a large relative share (94.1 %), while the share of USD-denominated debt was 5.9 %. As regards the maturity structure of debt by original maturity, the debt instruments with maturity of over 10 years have the largest share – 52.6 %, followed by those with maturity from 5 to 10 years – 37.7 %, those with maturity from 1 year to 5 years – 9.5 %, and those with maturity below 1 year – 0.2 %. As regards the structure by residual maturity, the share of debt up to 1 year accounts for 9,6 %, that from 1 year to 5 years accounts for 26.5%, the debt from 5 to 10 years accounts for 32.2% and that over 10 years accounts for 31.7%.

As of 28 February 2025, the central government guaranteed debt was BGN 1,084.7 million. Domestic guarantees amounted to BGN 263.4 million and external guarantees – to BGN 821.3 million. The central government guaranteed debt/GDP ratio is 0.5 %.  

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 2025 the government debt reached BGN 47,579.2 million, being 22.1 % of GDP. Domestic debt amounted to BGN 12,135.4 million and external debt – to BGN 35,443.8 million. Government guaranteed debt in February 2025 amounted to EUR 1,716.3 million, with the government guaranteed debt/GDP ratio being 0.8 %.  

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

[1] Central government debt includes the government debt assumed under the procedure of the Government Debt Law, as well as the debt of the institutional units classified under central government within the general government, including state-owned hospitals, state-owned enterprises, the Bank Deposit Insurance Fund, the FLAG Fund, the Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria, etc. The full list of legal entities included in central government can be found HERE.

[2] Gross domestic product for 2025 – as per the 2024 autumn macroeconomic forecast of the Ministry of Finance.