Bulgaria is discussing with the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) the possibility of the euro also being used in Bulgaria before its official introduction. This was understood from the words of Finance Minister Asen Vassilev while presenting the draft budget for the year.

In response to a question, he briefly answered that in 2023, a parallel introduction of the euro in transactions is not foreseen. He did not want to specify whether the goal is to make this possible in 2024. To this question, he answered that he would provide information after the meetings with the ECB and the European Commission on the matter have been held. He reminded that at the moment only companies can legally carry out transactions in euros in Bulgaria, while individuals can neither do this nor receive their salaries in euros. The idea is to allow them to do so legally.

"At the moment, we have no confirmation that such an action would be possible. Let's have all the conversations with the European Commission and the ECB, and if there is a change in the plan for the euro, it will be communicated in a timely manner," Vassilev assured.

He gave the example of Montenegro for similar use of the euro, although it is the only currency there. Initially, in 1999, the country introduced the Deutsche Mark alongside the Yugoslav Dinar to deal with inflation. A year later, it switched completely to the mark, and from 2002 - to the euro.

Vassilev again announced that for the moment Bulgaria meets the criteria for the size of the debt and the budget deficit for membership in the Eurozone, and it is approaching the criteria for inflation. He explained that for the last matter of judgment, it will be which countries will be removed from the base against which Bulgaria will be evaluated, as was done with Croatia, in order to meet the criterion.

During an economic forum on Tuesday, the deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank responsible for the euro, Kalin Hristov, pointed out that as of September 2021, Bulgaria has higher than required inflation and currently the difference is 5.4 percentage points above the required ceiling.

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