ECB: Bulgaria is ready to adopt the Euro

Finance and Taxes

Bulgaria is permanently on the list of excellent performers, reported the European Central Bank (ECB) in its overall assessment on the degree of convergence among the countries, which have adopted the Euro and the candidates to join the Eurozone, quoted by the Ministry of Finance. Bulgaria meets the four basic criteria for membership in the Eurozone - an inflation below 3.1%, a long-term interest rate of up to 5.8%, a budget deficit within 3%, and a State debt of up to 60% of the country’s GDP. Thus, Bulgaria ranks beside Denmark and Sweden, which also meet the Maastricht criteria.

According to the ECB data, the long-term interest rate for the country stood at 5.11% in May 2012. The index is below the reference value of 5.8% and is lower than that of 12 EU member states, out of which 7 are part of the monetary union. The ECB confirms the information in its Convergence Report, published on May 30, 2012, where this index was stated at 5.3%, on the average, for the period April 2011 - March 2012. Regarding the inflation in Bulgaria, it was 2.7% in March 2012, below the reference value of 3.1% in the EU member states. ECB mentions in its report that the annual inflation fluctuated in the range of 2.3 - 12% during the last ten years. The report states that after the peak of 4.6% in March 2011, inflation decreased  in March 2012, on an annual basis, due to the lower food and energy prices and as a result of the raising excise duties on tobacco products as of 2010. In the long term, ECB expects an increase in the inflation rate of up to 3.3% by 2013.

Text and photo: klassa.bg

(21.06.2012)