Bulgarian National Bank

The Turkish lira, which fell today by more than five percent, hit a new historic low against the dollar ten days after the re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reported AFP.

"Bulgaria is on the final stretch on the road to the Eurozone". This was stated by Iliya Lingorski from the BNB Board of Directors during a forum dedicated to the advantages for business and the economy of the adoption of the euro.

The pro-Russian "Vazrazhdane" party demanded the resignation of the governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), Dimitar Radev. According to them, he has started implementing the plan to introduce the euro.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has no formal basis and has not suspended the technical work on the adoption of the euro. It is being carried out on schedule and within the bank's budget for 2023, the press center of the Bulgarian National Bank said regarding political comments that the process of joining the Eurozone should be stopped.

"At the beginning of the year, the fiscal reserve was BGN 11.9 billion, of which BGN 10.8 billion was in BNB (Bulgarian National Bank) accounts. As of May 10, the fiscal reserve decreased to about BGN 10.3 billion, and in BNB accounts - to 9.6 billion". This was stated by the acting Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova in the plenary hall.

The law on the adoption of the euro will be submitted to the National Assembly within a month, announced Deputy Minister of Finance Metodi Metodiev during a discussion on the topic of the forum "The role of organized civil society in the process of Bulgaria's accession to the Eurozone". According to him, achieving the inflation criterion remains the main challenge facing our country.

At the end of March 2023, the deposits of the non-governmental sector in Bulgaria were close to BGN 119 billion (67.3 percent of GDP), and their annual increase was 13.1 percent, reports the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

As of February, the growth of this type of savings was 14.3 percent on an annual basis.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has taken measures to restrict lending and control the growth of inflation. The central bank's decision is to more than double the minimum required reserves of banks.

This is happening two days after the BNB reported as a risk the rapid growth of lending from commercial treasuries.

"1.8% - this is the optimistic option for the growth of the economy. The Bulgarian National Bank, for example, predicts 0.4% growth. This is a positive realistic option. There are also options with a recession, which are even more frightening.

The gross external debt at the end of January 2023 amounted to nearly 45.1 billion euros (49.9 percent of the estimated Gross Domestic Product - GDP), reports the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

This is almost EUR 3.963 billion (9.6 percent) more than at the end of January 2022 (over EUR 41.120 billion, 48.6 percent of GDP).