Bulgaria's gross foreign debt increased by 3.2 per cent in the end of March reaching 20.29 billion euro, Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said.

The foreign debt increase is 624.2 million euro, Dnevnik daily reported.

Foreign debt to GDP ratio reached 75.9 per cent. In comparison, the country's foreign debt in the end of 2006 was 19.66 billion euro or 78.4 per cent of the GDP.

Private sector debt features as the main reason for the increase. It reached 16.05 billion euro, an increase of 5.8 per cent as compared to 2006 figures. Private debts also feature as one of the factors responsible for the high current account deficit.

Current account deficit features among International Monetary Fund's (MRF) main concerns for the economic stability of Bulgaria.

Long-term debt amounts to 13.8 billion euro, 68.2 per cent from the total debt and short-term debt is 6.46 billion euro, 31.8 per cent of the total debt.

Foreign debt of commercial banks was estimated to 3.46 billion euro, an increase of 2.6 per cent compared to 2006 levels. Gross public foreign debt in the end of March went down by 7.3 per cent to 3.39 billion euro.