Bulgaria won't be able to meet the criteria for joining the euro area by the date of the convergence report in June, BNB Governor says

Bulgaria will not be able to meet all the criteria for joining the euro area by the date of the convergence report in June, said Bulgarian National Bank’s (BNB) Governor, Dimitar Radev, who on May 14 took part in a conference on euro area entry, organised by the association of honorary consuls.

According to Radev, the main reason for the country's delay is the political crisis and the executive's insufficient willingness to finalise the process. According to the BNB Governor, Bulgaria still has a chance to join the eurozone next year, but it is unlikely to happen from January 1.

Banks and the banking system will be ready for eurozone entry by the end of the year. However, this is not the case with the state administration and local authorities, which have to work hard to meet the technical requirements, Radev explained.

In his words, four measures should be taken urgently:

• Restoring political contacts on the topic, as Radev said the current ties are only protocol-based;
• Putting fiscal consolidation back on track, which is extremely important for the BNB;
• Adoption of the euro law as soon as possible;
• Speeding up work on the remaining conditions and the technical preparations of the executive.

Caretaker Minister of Economy, Petko Nikolov, also commented on the topic. In his words, it is important for Bulgaria to adopt the euro as one of the benefits is to improve the country's rating.

Nikolov said that the ministry was also preparing a special campaign to prevent abuses after the adoption of the euro. He said that the Commission for Protection of Consumers (CPC), will monitor compliance with the obligations of traders for the correct recalculation and double marking of prices.

"The CPC will organise an 'Honest Trader' campaign with a clearly visible logo," Nikolov explained.

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva

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