“The possible date for the adoption of the euro in Bulgaria is January 1, 2025,” the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, told Nova TV.
In his words, January 2025 is an indicative date, but work must be done because inflation will be tracked for 12 months back. “I would say that it is not very likely that you will meet this criterion earlier, so that you introduce the euro before 2025,” he pointed out.
Dombrovskis added that countries traditionally join the Eurozone on January 1. The rules do not exclude another date, but from a purely practical point of view, joining at the beginning of the year is more convenient.
Acting Finance Minister Rositsa Velkova claimed that it is possible for Bulgaria to enter the Eurozone in the summer of next year. The report, which will provide information whether Bulgaria‘s economic indicators allow us to introduce the euro, will be ready in the spring of 2024.
“At the moment, the problem is the very high inflation. That is why January 2024 was dropped as an option,” said the EC vice-president.
Fears that the euro would bring serious inflation were also present in Latvia in 2014, when they introduced the single currency. However, they report about a half percent price increase. Last year, inflation was 20 percent, and according to the Latvian authorities, it is not the euro that raises prices.
The locals admit that they asked themselves the same questions that we ask ourselves in Bulgaria too – will prices rise further and life will become more difficult. It turns out that the inflation they reported in 2014, when the euro was introduced, was under 1 percent.
“For ordinary people, there was not much difference. Some businesses raised their prices, but others did not. I don’t remember inflation being a problem. Now it’s much higher,” says a local.
According to financiers, claims that salaries and pensions will decrease only because of the introduction of the euro are completely illogical. Inflation on the other hand can really rise if there is no control and no real competition. However, it is not the exchange of currencies that leads to an increase in prices.
The governor of the central bank of Latvia is adamant that the euro provides additional security, but the countries that have started on the path to the euro area must also have completed their reforms in order not to end up with unprepared economies.
Source : Novinite.com
