Bulgaria with Second Lowest Debt-to-GDP Ratio in EU in Q1, 2014

At the end of the first quarter of 2014, Bulgaria's government debt increased by 1.4 percentage points from the last quarter of 2013 and by 2.3 pp from the first quarter of 2013, to 20.3% of the GDP, according to Eurostat.

In the last quarter of 2013 the government debt amounted to 18.9% of the GDP and in the first quarter of 2013 it stood at 18.0% of the GDP.

At the end of the first quarter of 2014, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA18) stood at 93.9%, compared with 92.7% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013. This increase comes after two consecutive quarters of decrease.

In the EU28, the ratio increased from 87.2% to 88.0%. Compared with the first quarter of 2013, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 92.5% to 93.9%) and the EU28 (from 86.2% to 88.0%).