©Reuters. Bulgaria adopts a plan to enter the euro zone on January 1, 2024
Sofia, May 27 (.).- The reformist government of Bulgaria approved this Friday a national operational plan to adopt the euro from January 1, 2024, amid a majority of skepticism in society, the deputy prime minister announced on Friday. and Finance Minister Asen Vasilev.
The plan provides that all institutions, banks and businesses in the country must accept payments in euros from the first moment of its adoption and for only one month, that is, in January 2024, the current Bulgarian currency, the lev, will be accepted. in parallel form.
“The approval of the plan is the first technical step and will follow a series of legislative reforms and the process is transferred to Parliament. The goal is for Bulgaria to be technically ready to adopt the euro on January 1, 2024,” Vasilev explained at a press conference.
The conversion between the two currencies will be 1.9558 levs per euro, a fixed exchange rate that has existed since the introduction of the euro 20 years ago.
The current Bulgarian government is made up of four parties, from the center and from the left of the political arc, led by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov’s “Let’s Continue the Change”.
Three months before entering the euro zone and during the first nine months of that year, all prices must be announced in both currencies, to avoid possible abuse by traders.
A recent Eurobarometer survey shows that 62% of Bulgarians are against adopting the euro as they fear higher prices.
Local experts allege this fear to a lack of information campaign by the authorities of the country, the poorest in the EU.
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