The ratio of Bulgaria's government debt to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) as at the end of 2009 was 14.3 per cent, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. An annual review of the government debt in 2009 has been posted on the Ministry's website.

The nominal value of the government debt as at the end of 2009 was 4,828,500,000 euro, including 3,289,800,000 euro in external debt and 1,538,700,000 euro in internal debt.

The debt decreased by 13.1 million euro from 2008 in absolute terms. The decrease resulted mainly from a fall of the internal government debt due to a negative value of net financing.

The currency structure of the government debt changed positively in the direction of growing euro-denominated debt, which contributed to minimizing the risks stemming from foreign exchange rate fluctuations on international capital markets.

As at the end of 2009, the currency structure of the debt was as follows: 18.0 per cent in US dollars, 54.7 per cent in euro, 24.5 per cent in leva, and 2.8 per cent in other currencies.

In 2009, the proportion of the fixed-interest debt was 75.8 per cent, and that of the floating-interest debt was 24.2 per cent.

The country's government-guaranteed debt amounted to 612.1 million euro as at the end of 2009. In nominal terms, the government-guaranteed debt decreased by 22.2 million euro from end-2008 as a result of debt repayments and foreign exchange fluctuations over the year.

The ratio of the government-guaranteed debt to the GDP stood at 1.8 per cent at end-2009, compared with 1.9 per cent at end-2008. The ratio decreased mainly due to the fall of the GDP.

The government debt management policy in 2009 was in line with the principal government priorities of securing a stable budgetary position, preserving macroeconomic stability and maintaining the level of the government debt in quantitative and qualitative terms, thus ensuring fiscal sustainability and fulfillment of the Maastricht criteria, the Finance Ministry said.