Bulgaria’s sovereign debt stood at 6.47 billion euros at the end of March 2006, the Ministry of Finance announced. Domestic debt stood at 1.51 billion euros and foreign debt at 4.96 billion euros. In nominal terms, sovereign debt fell by 26.2 million euros over the month, as more debt was paid off. State and state-guaranteed debt at the end of March was equivalent to 27.8% of Bulgaria’s GDP. Most of Bulgaria’s sovereign debt is denominated in euros: 70.1%, followed by the US dollar: 14.8%, and Bulgarian leva: 13.3%.
Round-up of the biggest moves on Asia’s stock markets yesterday: Tokyo down 1.63% on concerns about further interest rate rises; Taiwan down 1.36%, also on fears of higher interest rates; Chinese shares fell 3.21% as investors sold steelmakers and real estate; Jakarta shares rebounded Monday afternoon to finish 1.32% higher in a rebound led by banking and mining, while the Philippine bourse plummeted 3.97% as investors reacted to yesterday's heavy losses across Asia.
The last of Poland’s monthly macro data releases went through the markets without much of an echo, with slightly stronger than expected German manufacturing offsetting slightly lower than expected domestic retail sales. The zloty was not affected by the data, but suffering as investors watched sentiment to the Turkish lire.
The Gasoducto Bolivia-Brazil pipeline operator, controlled by Brazilian state owned company Petrobras, asked the Bolivian National Oil Agency to cancel the tender for the expansion of the pipe. Petrobras announced the suspension of the project to expand pipe capacity by fifteen million cubic meters daily to 45 million cubic meters a day after Bolivia announced on May 1 the nationalization of its hydrocarbons reserves.
Mexico’s state-run oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) posted record natural gas output in April. The company reached average daily production of 5.284 million cubic feet as a result of bigger extractions in marine regions of Sonda de Campeche and northern Mexico.