Central Bank: Bulgaria is on the final stretch on the road to the Eurozone

Bulgaria is on the home straight on the road to the euro area, Iliya Lingorski from the Bulgarian National Bank’s Governing Council said on May 30 at the forum "The Eurozone and Business - Advantages and Challenges", organised by the Union for Economic Initiative.

By the end of the year, the accession to the system of instant transfers in euro is expected to be completed. Changes to the legal framework, such as the new BNB Act and the law on the adoption of the Euro, are also underway.

"We are now in the final phase where we are focusing, and this is the right focus, on meeting these challenges that are associated with the process of introducing the euro as the national currency and they have a really big, complex, labour-intensive and substantial technical part," said Iliya Lingorski.

In the first quarter, Croatia's GDP grew by 2.8% and inflation was lowered from 11% to 8% in the first five months since the country joined the currency union. Croatia is also the only country to have joined the euro area in a high inflation environment.

"Everybody is worried that prices may rise by 20-30%, but this is not happening. Usually inflation is below 0.5 % in countries after they switch to the euro," said Mislav Burkic, European Relations Directorate, Croatian National Bank.

Croatia's accession to the eurozone has brought positive effects to the economy, including greater resilience to crises, easier borrowing, more investment, easier travel and a boost to tourism.