According to preliminary figures of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) released on Thursday, Bulgaria's government deficit and debt decreased last year compared to 2014.

The general government institutional sector deficit was in excess of BGN 1.7 B, amounting to 2.1 % of GDP.

This represented a decrease of more than two and a half times compared to 2014 when the corresponding figure was 5.4 %.

The largest deficit was registered in the local government sub-sector (BGN 888 M), followed by the central government (BGN 850 M) and the social security funds sub-sector (BGN 36 M).

The government debt in 2015 was in excess of BGN 23 B, amounting to 26.7 % of GDP. This represented a slight decrease compared to the previous year when the corresponding figure was 27 % .

The figures for government deficit and debt for 2012 and 2013 have been revised due to the inclusion of the Deposit Insurance Fund in the general government institutional sector for this period.

According to the revised data, deficit in 2012 and 2013 stood at respectively 0.3 % and 0.4% of GDP. The respective figures for the debt were 16.8 % and 17.1 %.