site.btaCentral Government Subsector Debt at End-November Exceeds BGN 41 Billion

The debt of the central government subsector at the end of November 2023 amounted to more than BGN 41.588 billion, The Finance Ministry reports in its monthly bulletin. This represents an increase of more than BGN 4.4 billion compared to the end of October 2023, which is mainly due to the new debt assumed during the month in the international capital markets through the issuance of Eurobonds. Domestic liabilities are close to BGN 10.8 billion and external liabilities - over BGN 30.8 billion.

The ratio of debt of the central government subsector to gross domestic product stood at 21.8% of GDP, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous month. The debt of the central government subsector, as a major component of the general government debt, makes Bulgaria one of the least indebted EU member states. The domestic debt-to-GDP ratio is 5.6% and the external debt ratio is 16.1%. In the debt structure of the sub-sector for November 2023, domestic and external liabilities account for 25.9% and 74.1%, respectively.

Bonds issued in international capital markets continue to account for a major share of 59.7% in the debt by instrument structure as at November 30, 2023, followed by government securities issued domestically at 25% and loans at 15.3%. In the interest rate structure of the debt, the trend for the predominance of fixed-rate liabilities (98.7%) is maintained, and in the currency structure - for a high relative share of debt instruments denominated in EUR and BGN (99.9%). In the maturity structure of debt by original maturity, debt instruments with maturity over 10 years accounted for the largest share - 57.3%, followed by those with maturity from 5 to 10 years - 32.9%, from 1 to 5 years - 9.5% and up to 1 year - 0.3%. In the structure by remaining maturity, the share of debt up to 1 year is 8.6%, 26.8% - 1 to 5 years, 36.2% - 5 to 10 years and 28.4% - over 10 years.

The guaranteed debt of the central government subsector as of November 30, 2023 is BGN 687.5 million. Domestic guarantees amount to BGN 57.8 million and external guarantees to BGN 629.6 million. The guaranteed debt-to-GDP ratio of the central government subsector is 0.4%.  

The State debt at the end of November 2023 reached over BGN 40.7 billion or 21.3% of GDP. Domestic liabilities amount to BGN 10,615.4 million and external liabilities - BGN 30,120.6 million.   

The state-guaranteed debt in November 2023 amounts to almost BGN 1.6 billion, domestic guarantees are BGN 57.8 million, and the ratio of state-guaranteed debt to GDP is 0.8%.