Bulgaria"s gross external debt stood at EUR 37.15 B in March, down by 0.2% from the previous month and up 0.8% on an annual basis, a report by the Bulgarian National Bank showed Thursday.

The government"s external debt fell by EUR 30.1 M to EUR 2.83 B, which was 8.2% of GDP in March.

The increase has been attributed to the Development Policy Loans received from the World Bank in April and June 2009, the central bank said.

For the January to March period, gross external debt service was 4.9% of GDP or EUR 1.68 billion versus EUR 2.2 billion last year.