Just four days after Bulgaria entered the eurozone, economists' warnings of a "shock increase" became reality on the shelves. While institutions promised a smooth transition and honest mathematics, citizens' signals reveal a picture of chaos, technical incompetence and outright opportunism on the part of traders.
Association "Active Consumers" and the national media were flooded with complaints about drastic differences between the official rate and what customers pay at the cash register.
The most striking example of the chaos in the first days was a signal for a pizza order, which from 18.75 leva was transformed into a bill for 36.67 euros. Analysis of the numbers shows that this is not just speculation, but a lack of basic competence – the amount in leva was multiplied by the rate (1.95583), instead of being divided by it.
"This is probably a technical error, but users should open their eyes four times", warned Bogomil Nikolov from "Active Users", quoted by NOVA.
However, this case raises the more serious question: How many other "technical errors" go unnoticed when the differences are smaller, and users – more distracted?
If the pizza case can be attributed to a "system glitch", then the price of bread reveals a deliberate strategy. A popular chain sold a baguette (300 g) for 0.89 leva (0.46 euros) on the last day of 2025. On January 2, the same product already costs 1.19 leva (0.61 euros).
This 33% jump is a classic example of the "cappuccino effect" - rounding up prices under the guise of the new currency, which Dunavmost warned about back on December 30. There is no market factor - neither energy nor raw material - that can justify a price increase of one third in 48 hours. This is a pure test of the buyer's endurance.
The speculation does not bypass household goods either. Plastic storage boxes in online stores have doubled in price - from 5.23 euros to 10.22 euros in one day.
Even more worrying are the signals for the banking sector. A customer alarms that when depositing 1400 leva into an account, the bank used an exchange rate of 1.965 instead of the fixed 1.95583. This practically means that financial institutions have found a way to impose hidden fees on the mandatory currency conversion, disguising them as "market exchange rate" - a practice that should be unacceptable in the conditions of a fixed exchange rate.
"After the New Year, there should be no leva accounts, they are converted automatically. Every deviation is a reason to raise an alarm", Bogomil Nikolov is categorical.
While the state threatens with fines of up to 100,000 leva for unfair practices, real control remains in the hands of consumers – the only weapon against speculation is the refusal to buy at inflated prices.