SOFIA: Bulgarian lawmakers approved Friday a five-year sovereign bond issue worth 950 million euros ($1.2 billion) which the finance minister hopes will cost significantly less than one that matures next year.

The government is expected to begin the launch procedure as early as next week, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said.

He declined to give a target interest rate, or yield, on the euro-denominated issue, but has already expressed hopes of paying as little as 5.5 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for an issue that matures in January.

Bulgaria's public debt is one of the lowest in the European Union, at just 14.3 percent of gross domestic product.

Since 1997, the country has operated under a currency board arrangement that ties its currency, the lev, to the euro at a fixed rate of 1.9553 leva per euro.