Bulgaria’s new government has decided to delay the next step toward adopting the euro until the country meets the criteria for joining the eurozone. This was announced on Thursday, January 23, by Bulgarian Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.
According to Petkova, Bulgaria does not yet meet the price stability criterion. Once this is achieved, she plans to seek an assessment from the European Commission and the European Central Bank, which is a key step in the process of joining the eurozone.
“When these factors are in place, I will undoubtedly take action,” she added.
Any EU country wishing to join the eurozone must meet several so-called convergence criteria. One of these requires that the country’s average inflation rate not exceed the inflation rate of the three best-performing eurozone countries by more than 1.5 percentage points over the past 12 months.
Petkova noted that Bulgaria is currently about one basis point short of the target.
Bulgaria has been working for years to join the common European currency despite a series of unstable coalitions and interim governments, arguing that euro adoption would boost investment and improve living standards.
