31.01.2019

The central government debt{1} as at end-December 2018 stood at EUR 12,217.3 million, continuing the trend of debt reduction since the beginning of the year.

Domestic debt amounted to EUR 3,123.4 million and external debt – to EUR 9,093.9 million.

At the end of the reporting period the central government debt/gross domestic product (GDP){2} ratio was 22.1 %, with the share of domestic debt being 5.6 % and of external debt – 16.5 %. In the central government debt structure, domestic debt at the end of the period amounted to 25.6 %, and external debt – to 74.4 %.

As of 31 December 2018, the central government guaranteed debt was EUR 90.4 million. Domestic guarantees amounted to EUR 34.8 million and external guarantees – to EUR 55.6 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-December 2018 the government debt reached EUR 11,282.0 million, being 20.4 % of GDP. Domestic debt amounted to EUR 2,788.6 million and external debt – to EUR 8,493.4 million. 

Government guaranteed debt in December 2018 amounted to EUR 959.3 million. Domestic guarantees amounted to EUR 34.8 million, the government guaranteed debt/ GDP ratio being 1.7 %.

The Bulletin can be found 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, issue No 95 of 8.12.2015, amended and supplemented SG, issue No 43 of 7.06.2016/, 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 13 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 May 2009 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community. You can find a 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 ^HERE.

{2} Based on NSI’s reporting GDP data for 2017 and forecast GDP data as per the autumn macroeconomic forecast of the Ministry of Finance for 2018.