Bulgaria Set for Euro Adoption in January 2026
European Commission and ECB approve Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone, making it the 21st country to adopt the euro.
On Wednesday, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) officially approved Bulgaria's plan to adopt the euro starting January 1, 2026. This decision means that Bulgaria will become the 21st nation to join the Eurozone, which currently serves 347 million Europeans across 20 member countries.
The Commission's recommendation follows a thorough assessment of Bulgaria's economy, indicating that it meets the necessary formal criteria to transition to the euro.
In its "convergence report," the European Commission examined how well Bulgaria's economy aligns with Eurozone standards, particularly in terms of economic activity and market integration within the European Union (EU).
A critical requirement for Bulgaria was to meet the inflation criterion, which stipulates that a candidate country must have a consumer inflation rate no higher than 1.5 percentage points above that of the EU's three best-performing states.
As of April, the states with the lowest inflation were France (0.9%), Cyprus (1.4%), and Denmark (1.5%).
Bulgaria's projected inflation rate for 2025 stands at 3.6%, expected to decrease to 1.8% in 2026, thus fulfilling this requirement.
Additionally, potential Eurozone candidates must avoid being subjected to the EU’s budgetary discipline procedure, which targets countries with deficits exceeding 3% of GDP. Bulgaria meets this criterion with a forecasted budget deficit of 3.0% in 2024, reducing to 2.8% in 2025. Furthermore, Bulgaria’s public debt is projected to be 24.1% of GDP in 2024 and 25.1% in 2025, well below the maximum threshold of 60%.
Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 and has since made significant efforts to transition from its national currency, the lev, to the euro.
The European Commission's positive recommendation must be ratified by EU leaders by the end of June, after which EU finance ministers will determine the conversion exchange rate from the Bulgarian lev to the euro in July.
This timeline allows Bulgaria the remainder of the year to technically prepare for the transition.
Post-adoption, only six of the 27 EU member states will remain outside the Eurozone: Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Denmark.
The Commission's recommendation follows a thorough assessment of Bulgaria's economy, indicating that it meets the necessary formal criteria to transition to the euro.
In its "convergence report," the European Commission examined how well Bulgaria's economy aligns with Eurozone standards, particularly in terms of economic activity and market integration within the European Union (EU).
A critical requirement for Bulgaria was to meet the inflation criterion, which stipulates that a candidate country must have a consumer inflation rate no higher than 1.5 percentage points above that of the EU's three best-performing states.
As of April, the states with the lowest inflation were France (0.9%), Cyprus (1.4%), and Denmark (1.5%).
Bulgaria's projected inflation rate for 2025 stands at 3.6%, expected to decrease to 1.8% in 2026, thus fulfilling this requirement.
Additionally, potential Eurozone candidates must avoid being subjected to the EU’s budgetary discipline procedure, which targets countries with deficits exceeding 3% of GDP. Bulgaria meets this criterion with a forecasted budget deficit of 3.0% in 2024, reducing to 2.8% in 2025. Furthermore, Bulgaria’s public debt is projected to be 24.1% of GDP in 2024 and 25.1% in 2025, well below the maximum threshold of 60%.
Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 and has since made significant efforts to transition from its national currency, the lev, to the euro.
The European Commission's positive recommendation must be ratified by EU leaders by the end of June, after which EU finance ministers will determine the conversion exchange rate from the Bulgarian lev to the euro in July.
This timeline allows Bulgaria the remainder of the year to technically prepare for the transition.
Post-adoption, only six of the 27 EU member states will remain outside the Eurozone: Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Denmark.
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