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Bulgaria's government debt rose to 29.9% of GDP in 2025 and the deficit reached 4%

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Neoclassical government building with columns at dusk in a European capital Macroeconomic Data
Neoclassical government building with columns at dusk in a European capital

Statistics office data show debt of EUR 34.8 billion at the end of 2025, while Eurostat expressed a reservation over how some road agency spending was recorded.

Bulgaria's general government debt reached EUR 34.797 billion at the end of 2025, equal to 29.9% of gross domestic product, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) reported on Wednesday 21 October, according to BTA. A year earlier the debt stood at EUR 24.977 billion, or 23.8% of GDP.

The general government sector recorded a deficit of EUR 4.664 billion in 2025, or 4% of GDP. Most of it came from central government, where the deficit was EUR 4.546 billion (3.9% of GDP). Local government ran a deficit of EUR 114 million and the social security funds a deficit of EUR 4 million.

The figures may still change. The NSI said it had requested, but not yet received, the National Audit Office report on an extraordinary audit of public road infrastructure projects ordered by parliament. Depending on the findings, and after verification by Eurostat, the deficit and debt data for general and central government could be revised.

Eurostat expressed a reservation on the quality of the data Bulgaria reported for 2025. It said it was discussing with the Bulgarian authorities how certain operations of the Road Infrastructure Agency should be recorded in the national accounts, which will require additional data. Bulgaria currently records these amounts as adding 0.6% of GDP to the 2025 deficit.

The Ministry of Finance said the deficit was 0.5 percentage points higher than preliminary estimates and confirmed unaccounted-for spending by the Road Infrastructure Agency, Radio Bulgaria reported on 22 October. The ministry noted that the deficit exceeds the European reference value of 3% of GDP, that the imbalances are carried over into the following years' budgets and that consistent measures are needed to bring the deficit under control.

Despite the rise, Bulgaria's debt remains low by European standards. At the end of the second quarter of 2026 it stood at 28.7% of GDP, compared with 88.8% in the euro area and 82.9% in the EU as a whole, according to the same BTA report.

Sources

Macroeconomic Data

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