According to financial consultant Deyan Vasilev, the decision to keep its currency costs Bulgaria around 1 billion leva (500,000 euros) a year. Speaking on Nova TV, he noted that currency exchange alone costs around 500 million leva a year, stressing that this inconvenience is preventing Bulgaria from integrating into the European market. Vasilev described the Bulgarian leva as a “luxury item” that citizens cannot afford.
He noted that the Monetary Board was introduced as an emergency measure and that joining the euro zone would bring several benefits, including lower interest rates on government debt. While acknowledging that Bulgaria must avoid excessive deficits, Vasilev emphasized that Bulgaria’s current deficit is below 3 percent and suggested that a balanced budget would help avoid debt. He also noted that many euro zone countries do not meet inflation standards.
Meanwhile, Dimitar Savekh of the Institute of Economics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences disagreed with the idea that the euro would be a disaster for Bulgaria. He explained that the lev operates under a monetary committee system, a currency system reminiscent of the practices used by colonial powers in the 19th century. Savekh noted that around 30 billion leva is in circulation within the system, as well as 72 billion leva of foreign assets (mainly dollars and securities). He criticized the anti-euro sentiment as reflecting a lack of financial literacy and self-interest. Savekh also said that Bulgaria’s declining population and low labor costs are also the result of the monetary committee system, and argued that the Corporate Commercial Bank would not have faced insolvency if Bulgaria had joined the eurozone.
