Bulgaria will probably not meet the inflation criterion for the introduction of the euro from January 1, 2025 – Highlights from the program

Bulgaria will probably not introduce the euro from January 1, 2025. BNB governor Dimitar Radev told BTA that a more likely scenario for joining the eurozone is later in 2025.

The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce was part of the expanded composition of the interdepartmental working group – non-financial sector, the purpose of which was to prepare a draft of the Law on the introduction of the euro, Stanislav Popdonchev – deputy chairman of the BSK – told Radio Sofia.

“The date we were working on then was January 1, 2025, it was subsequently realized that Bulgaria would probably not meet the inflation criterion until the release of the regular convergence report in June this year, and options for an extraordinary convergence report would be sought. Thus, the possible dates become either March 1 or July 1, 2025,” said Popdonchev.

He specified that the date of the introduction of the euro is very important for business, as the deadlines are counting down.

“The business needs between 6 and 8 months to adapt its activity to work with the euro, and this includes fiscal devices, internal business software, and other processes,” explained the deputy chairman of BSK.

According to Stanislav Popdonchev, what businesses, especially in the field of trade and services, must do first is to update the software of their fiscal devices. At the moment, they are over 460,000, with the most – over 350,000 – being the cash registers.

“It is necessary to make changes to Ordinance N18, in which to create the parameters according to which software developers can change it,” said Popdonchev.

According to him, it will not be necessary to purchase new fiscal devices, with the condition that a change in software may lead to the need for a new device, he explained.

Estimates for the software update indicate that it will cost between BGN 44 and BGN 100 per device, Stanislav Popdonchev said.

Details can be heard in the sound file.

The publication was worked on by: Polina Nacheva

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