''The loss from Bulgaria's delayed membership in the Eurozone and Schengen is between 4% and 5% of the country's GDP'', Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev said in an interview for Nova TV. ''The business loses between EUR 250 million and EUR 500 million just from currency conversion. Separately, delaying eurozone membership leads to higher interest rates and less investment'', Minister Vassilev said.
The losses stemming from Bulgaria’s delayed membership in Schengen are also huge, Minister Vassilev said with regard to the government’s draft decree, according to which Bulgaria should include in an official document the date January 1, 2025, as a target date for adopting the euro. Assen Vassilev said that this act is necessary, because the caretaker cabinet had not written down the date January 1, 2024, as the target date for Eurozone membership, and because it had drafted a budget with a 6.4% deficit.
The likelihood of Bulgaria joining the eurozone on 1 January 2026 is growing by the day. The country would become the 21st EU member to adopt the single currency. The signals are coming both from the Bulgarian government, which has repeatedly stated..
The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has again reduced the key interest rate in the country . As of May 1, it will now be 2.24 percent. The decrease compared to April is 0.15%, when it was 2.39 percent. This is the eighth consecutive month of a decrease in..
An analysis by the Ministry of Economy and Industry shows that in 2024, Bulgaria's trade with the United States accounted for 1.7% of the country’s total trade volume, with exports to the U.S. making up 2.6% of total exports and imports from the U.S...
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