Of all the countries that have adopted the euro, Bulgaria is the most ready because we have had a currency board for 28 years, with a fixed exchange rate. The other countries that entered the eurozone did not have a currency board and the calculations they made were much more complicated. This was said in the show "From the Day" on BNT by economist and former Deputy Prime Minister Nikolay Vassilev.
Bulgaria is ready for the eurozone, the only downside is that our entry is quite late. We could have entered at any time in the past decade and already forgotten, said Vassilev.
This is not the first change in Bulgaria's currency, the last one was the denomination, when three zeros were removed from the lev. Bulgarians are used to working with euros. The fears are exaggerated, on February 1 next year we will have forgotten and we will not be afraid of anything, he added.
Currently, there is inflation in Bulgaria, even without the eurozone, due to several factors. First, there are several major wars being fought worldwide. Second, because of budget deficits. Incomes in Bulgaria are rising rapidly and in each of the last 28 years, the average salary has been growing faster than inflation. Last year and this year, the average salary will probably grow by 13-14%, and inflation is a single-digit number. Don't be afraid of the price of mineral water in one place, because mineral water is sold in 100,000 other places, the economist emphasized.
In a market economy, there is a great abundance of goods and services, and in a democracy it is good to have information about prices. But I am against the state setting prices and markups, as well as the highest state leaders constantly commenting on prices. State institutions will scare the crows - they neither can nor will do anything about prices. Our lives will improve, but the state should not deal with petty issues. Since we joined the European Union, no reforms have been made. Bulgaria is moving forward, but huge opportunities are being missed, Nikolay Vassilev also said.