FinObservatory

Chinese overseas lending / BGR

Bulgaria: debt owed to China

In 2021, Bulgaria is estimated to have owed China $654m, equal to 0.8% of its GDP, which ranks it 76 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $654m in 2021.

$654m
Estimated total, 2021
rank 76 of 126
0.8%
Percent of GDP
2021
$497m
Public and publicly guaranteed
2021
$158m
Private non-guaranteed
24.1% of external

The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021

The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2012, when it rose by $179m.

Public and publicly guaranteedPrivate non-guaranteedPBoC swap drawings

Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Bulgaria, by year and instrument, 2000 to 2021. Zeros are estimated zeros (no known loans outstanding), not missing values. Methodology

Against what Bulgaria reports owing to all creditors

No comparison is possible. Bulgaria has no row in the World Bank International Debt Statistics table. There is no reported all-creditor stock to measure the China estimate against, so the ratio is n/a, not zero and not a hundred percent. This is a difference in the scope of the two datasets, not evidence of anything hidden. The two-sources page lists every borrower in this position.