08.06.2012

From financial and EU market point of view, this is the most appropriate time to go on the euro bond market where Bulgaria has not appeared for a long time, said Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov in Parliament during the discussions of the draft law ratifying the papers needed to issue bonds to an amount of up to EUR 950 million on the international capital markets. The Finance Minister clarified that the issue proposed by the Ministry of Finance will repay the principal debt and the last interest due under the debt operation of the former Minister of Finance Milen Veltchev.

Minister Djankov explained that there were two main parameters determining when to propose an issue of external and domestic debt. "On the one hand, the debt should be assumed far enough from the date of repayment of any previous debt to ensure that the markets and the state budget remain calm; on the other hand, refinancing old debt should be as close to the maturity date as possible in order to avoid paying extra interest. Every month of an earlier issuing of euro bonds would cost between BGN 8 and 12 million per month", said Minister Djankov. "Therefore, every month with which we are getting closer to the maturity date saves this amount on the budget". One has to consider the pros and cons of such an operation very carefully, so we decided to make it in the spring of this year, concluded the Finance Minister.