When can Bulgaria Join the Eurozone?

Inflation, measures and how the euro will be adopted - these were the topics that MPs from the Budget Committee in Parliament discussed with economists and experts.

Bulgaria is increasingly moving away from adopting the euro in 2024. This was announced to journalists by Lubomir Karimanski, chairman of the budget committee. Inflation is one of the main criteria for a member state to join the euro area.

\"High inflation is stopped by high positive real interest rates and a recession. This means that certain groups of people have to reduce their real income for a certain period of time. Otherwise, the mechanical giving creates a high risk of spiraling inflation,\" said Kalin Hristov, BNB Deputy Governor.

\"Unfortunately, we have not been able to limit this type of pandemic called outbreak inflation so far. We see it spreading diffusely. It is clear to everyone that we cannot reduce or control inflation at a low level with fiscals,\" Milen added. Velchev, financier.

\"My understanding has always been that inflation is not the cause of anything. It is the result of wrong policies or macroeconomic developments. And in that sense, we must refrain, at least as public policies, from strengthening it. Measures must be more focused because throwing some money at the whole market is much more likely to increase inflation than to reduce it,\" added Vladislav Goranov, a financier.

Not only is inflation an obstacle for Bulgaria to join the Eurozone but there are also other reasons.

\"Our chances are not great, because if we keep the current criteria, it would be difficult to meet them in terms of inflation,\" said Lubomir Karimanski, chairman of the National Assembly\'s Budget and Finance Committee.

\"The problem for Bulgaria is that we have low competitiveness. We are the least developed country in the European Union. And this puts us in special conditions because there is no way for EU monetary policy to be equally developed for both highly developed and underdeveloped countries \", said Rumen Gechev from the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

A report on the topic by the experts will be submitted to the Council of Ministers.

/BNT

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