site.btaCentral Bank Governor: If Political Situation Stabilizes, Bulgaria Is Technically Prepared to Join Eurozone as of January 2024

If the political situation stabilizes, Bulgaria is technically prepared to finalize the process for joining the eurozone within the set deadline, January 1 2024, said Bulgarian National Bank governor Dimiter Radev taking a journalist question.

"We are running late because of the political situation. What we need now is a working government and a working legislature, because many law have to amended and new legislation passed," said Radev.

Radev said that Bulgaria only fails to meet the inflation criteria. He said that for the first time in 20 months, inflation began to go down in October. Radev said that the inflation will be measured by end-April 2023 and said that the issue is carefully monitored by the institutions in Bulgaria.

Relaxing fiscal policy and increasing debt will be obstacles to controlling inflation, said Radev. "If we want to control inflation, one of the policies is to be prudent with the budget," he said and said that this is not the case now.

The central bank governor said that people's fears of the eurozone membership are because of the lack of information and said that this will be remedied with the launch of the communication strategy for information on Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone. Radev took part in a conference in Sofia, which discussed the advantages and opportunities for Bulgaria, arising from its membership in Schengen.