Bulgaria's government debt at the end of March 2008 stood at 4,737.5 million euro, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.

The internal government debt was 1,556.7 million euro, and the external government debt was 3,180.8 million euro. The government debt decreased by 355 million euro from the previous
month in nominal terms. The decrease is due mainly to payments made over the month and to the early repayment of part of the debt to the World Bank.

The government guaranteed debt in March was 563.7 million euro. The decrease of the government guaranteed debt is due mainly to payments performed and to differences in currency exchange rates.

At the end of the period under review, the ratio of the government debt to GDP was 15.0 per cent, 1.1 percentage points down from the previous month. The GDP ratio of the external
government debt was 10.1 per cent, and the GDP ratio of the internal government debt was 4.9 per cent. The ratio of the government guaranteed debt to GDP was 1.8 per cent.

In the structure of the government debt at the end of the period, internal obligations stood at 32.9 per cent, and external obligations at 67.1 per cent.

Since the beginning of the year, principal and interest payments amount to 1,432.2 million leva, including 1,121.6 million leva towards the external debt and 310.6 million leva towards the
internal debt. Euro payments constituted 64.4 per cent of the total, followed by payments in leva, at 26.8 per cent, and in US dollars, at 8.3 per cent.