Euro -zone is ready for a new member: Bulgaria

Bulgaria on Wednesday provided green light to join the euro zone, that is, the block can quickly grow from 20 to 21 members.

European Central Bank report Estimated that the country met the requirements to accept the single currency, starting next year.

“This positive convergence assessment opens the way to Bulgaria to introduce the euro from January 1, 2026 and become the 21st EU state to join the euro -zone,” a member of the ECB Executive Council said in a press release.

This means the transition from last year’s report, which came to the conclusion that Sofia did not meet the so -called convergence criteria to accept the currency on the grounds that the country’s inflation level was too high.

One of the obstacles to intersection was inflation. According to the Statistical Agency, the harmonized consumer price index – which is comparable in European countries – amounted to 2.8% in April, the statistical agency reports Eurostat.

Price stability is just one of the requirements that the country must fulfill to join the Eurozone zone, and thus the European Central Bank. Others include restrictions on the country’s deficit and debt debt, its average nominal long -term interest rate and exchange rate stability.

There is also a legal requirement that covers the independence of the Central Bank.

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and at the time also made to enter the eurozone and abandon the Bulgarian left as an official currency.

One euro is equivalent to 1.96 Lev, a rate set when Bulgaria became part of the currency board.

There is an ambiguous attitude towards joining the euro in Bulgaria. A overview Posted last year EU offered 49% public He was in favor of becoming part of the Euro. Political opinion is also broken, and several nationalist parties and the country’s president oppose this, while Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyaskova supports.

This developing story is updated.