Bulgarian government and central bank officials announced that the European country is committed to its goal of adopting the euro currency starting from January 1, 2014.
“Reuters” quoted officials as saying that Bulgaria plans to use the euro payment process without any transition period once it joins the euro zone.
Bulgaria, one of the European Union’s poorest countries, was accepted along with Croatia in the exchange rate mechanism (ERM-2), a mandatory stage for joining the euro, last July.
According to a draft national plan for Bulgaria’s entry into the eurozone approved on Wednesday, Bulgarians will also be able to pay in the national currency for a month after the adoption of the single currency.
One of the biggest problems countries face when joining the euro is that they are not able to use exchange rates as a cushion to cushion any economic shock but Bulgaria, pegs its fibrous currency to the euro and plans to adopt the single currency at its current fixed rate.
The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement that the accession to the euro is planned without a transition period, and the date of adopting the euro will coincide with its introduction as an official unit of payment.