The transitional period, in which the lev and the euro will be in circulation simultaneously, will last one month and is completely sufficient, said Iliya Lingorski, member of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian National Bank in "The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov".
"This period, which is one month, I think is completely sufficient. It is neither too little nor too much," he commented and emphasized that the pace of withdrawal of the lev from circulation already shows that people are quickly getting used to the change.
According to him, in December alone, the leva balance decreased by over 4.4 billion leva, and in the last two working days before the New Year - by over 1 billion leva.
The BNB is observing how citizens consciously pay in stores with levs in order to use them before the end of the transition period.
"Currently, people are paying en masse with levs in order to spend what they have - this is the meaning of the dual circulation".
Lingorski reminded that there is no need for queues at banks and exchange offices, because the exchange of levs for euros is practically unlimited.
"The exchange of levs for euros is unlimited - people will be able to exchange calmly after this period", he assured.
The collected leva are being collected from the retail network and banks and are being prepared for destruction. The coins will be melted down, and the banknotes - destroyed using special technology, explained Iliya Lingorski.
"The process is different for banknotes - we will not burn them like ordinary paper", he specified.
Lingorski emphasized that the machines and the capacity for printing money will not be stopped.
"Bulgaria has long been printing euros for other central banks," he said, adding that the country participates in the ECB's common system for producing euro banknotes.