Economic news

Bulgaria sticks to plan to adopt the euro in 2024 amid coalition squabbles

2022.05.27 18:41

Bulgaria sticks to plan to adopt the euro in 2024 amid coalition squabbles
FILE PHOTO: Euro coins plunge into water in this illustration taken, May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s government on Friday approved a plan to join the euro zone as of Jan. 1, 2024, amid concerns within the ruling coalition over the lack of detailed analysis on the impact of the move.

Political uncertainty and three elections last year delayed the plan, drafted after Bulgaria was admitted together with Croatia to the ERM-2 mechanism, a mandatory stage for joining the euro in 2020. [L2N2OC1PM]

The European Union’s poorest member, which already pegs its lev currency to the euro, has pledged to adopt the single currency at its current fixed rate in 2024.

“Bulgaria has, de facto, already adopted the euro through the currency board arrangement. Because of the fixed peg, for example, if we want to raise the interest rates, we cannot do it,” Finance Minister Assen Vassilev told reporters.

“The plan gives a clear timeline to banks and other payment institutions how the euro will be adopted. It is just a first technical step,” he said.

The Socialists and the ITN party, members of the four-party ruling coalition, who support in principle the euro adoption, were against the plan’s approval. They said there was a lack of an analysis from the central bank on how the euro will impact people’s incomes and the economy as a whole.

“It has been clear since we joined the EU that we will adopt the euro. When this should happen, depends on us. We need to take an informed and reasonable decision and the one today is not such,” Socialist leader and Economy Minister Kornelia Ninova said.

Vassilev said discussions in the parliament, where legal changes need to be approved, are yet to be held as well as public debates.

Bulgaria, which is yet to show tangible results in fighting corruption, may also face challenges in meeting the nominal criteria for joining the euro zone.

Bulgaria is one of the least indebted countries in the EU, but it has been running fiscal deficits of about 3% since 2020, while surge in energy and food prices have pushed annual inflation to 14.4% in April, the highest level since 2008.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 104,570.02 0.64%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,246.33 1.58%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 3.10 0.71%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.01%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 237.43 0.85%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 679.70 0.30%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.00%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.328807 1.04%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.951039 1.20%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,244.17 1.51%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.253744 3.20%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 24.71 0.86%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 34.63 2.46%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 104,331.95 0.63%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,869.57 1.70%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.425683 5.37%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 4.19 4.00%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.83 1.80%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.310222 2.68%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000019 0.23%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 128.82 0.65%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,244.76 1.46%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 6.15 3.38%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.77 0.09%
hyperliquid
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 27.01 2.64%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 429.40 0.12%
bitget-token
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 6.86 0.88%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 11.89 1.51%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.20%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,434.49 1.49%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.05%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 4.62 1.34%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000013 0.46%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 5.63 18.13%
official-trump
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 25.82 7.16%
ondo-finance
Ondo (ONDO) $ 1.55 3.28%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 318.36 4.56%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 7.83 3.21%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 9.14 1.97%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 233.21 0.10%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 28.54 0.12%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 1.21 9.50%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 26.19 0.08%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.046163 1.19%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 451.06 1.92%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.130874 0.60%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.00%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.409413 1.00%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.130861 2.73%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 55.17 0.55%