Bulgaria's gross external debt amounted to 27,407.4 mln euros (83.7% of GDP) as at the end of January 2008, down by 716.3 mln euro (2.5%) compared to the end of 2007 when it stood at 28,123.7 mln euros, or 97.3% of GDP, Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) data show.

The greatest contribution to the debt decrease was due to deposits of non-residents in local banks (a decrease of 788.3 million euros, 20.1%). The long-term liabilities amounted to 18,650.4 mln euros (68% of total debt) by end-January 2008, while short-term liabilities came to 8,757 mln euros (32% of total debt).

General Government’s external debt amounted to 3,017.4 mln euros (9.2% of GDP) as of end-January 2008 down by 6.8 mln euros (0.2%) against the end of December 2007.

Banks’ external debt totaled 4,932.9 mln euros (15.1% of GDP), marking a decline of 814.6 mln euros (14.2%) against the end of 2007.

Other Sectors’ debt came to 9,829 mln euros, increasing by 59.1 mln euros (0.6%), compared to the end of 2007. As of end-January 2008 the stock of Direct Investment liabilities stood at 9,628.2 mln euros, against 9,582.1 mln euros as at the end of 2007.

Gross external debt service totaled 1,016.3 mln euros (3.1% of GDP) in January 2008, against 721.1 mln euros (2.5% of GDP) for the year-ago period.

The volume of loans and deposits received from non-residents came to 174.7 mln euros (0.5% of GDP) in the first month of 2008, compared to 296 mln euros (1% of GDP) for the corresponding period of 2007.

As of end-January 2008, net external debt amounted to 11,398.3 mln euros (34.8% of GDP) marking an increase of 385.8 mln euros (3.5%) against the end of 2007 .