Bulgaria’s government debt totalled EUR 13.34 B in nominal terms at of end-April 2016, the Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Compared with end-March 2016, total government debt was EUR 9.5 M lower at the end of April.

Compared with end-2015, however, total government debt was almost EUR 1.73 B higher in nominal terms at the end of April after the government issued a EUR 1.994 B dual-tranche bond on international capital markets on March 14. 

The bond issue had increased the government’s foreign debt, which totalled EUR 9.85 B as of end-April, compared with 9.86 B a month earlier. Domestic debt totalled EUR 3.49 M at the end of April, unchanged from end-March but lower compared with EUR 3.72 B at the end of 2015.

Government debt-to-GDP ratio was 29.2% at the end of April, as per the updated spring macroeconomic forecast of the Finance Ministry of Finance for 2016. The ratio was a touch lower compared with 29.3% a month earlier but higher than 26.4% at the end of last year.

Eurobonds issued in international capital markets kept their largest share (56.9%) in the structure of Bulgaria's government debt by instrument, followed by domestic government securities (26.1%) and loans (17.0%), the Finance Ministry said in a monthly debt report.

Government debt payments for the first four months of 2016 totalled BGN 1.23 B (EUR 627 M), of which BGN 920 M principal payments and BGN 310 M interest.