Bulgaria is currently running with confident steps towards the Eurozone, if there is no serious political or economic cataclysm, the country will very soon be ready to enter the Eurozone.
Political turbulence and uncertainty regarding governance and the country's geopolitical orientation may hinder the country on its path to the euro. The debate about changes in the tax system was also raised in the public space.
"There are problems in the tax and pension system, but raising taxes should not be the starting point to solve these problems, because they will not be solved and will most likely lead to other problems that will we wonder how to decide", commented Yulian Voinov, economist, in the Bloomberg Bulgaria studio.
From the latest published data on inflation and GDP of Bulgaria after the first quarter, it can be seen that there is a slowdown in the economy, as the 1.7% GDP growth is a lower indicator than the last quarter of last year, said Voinov. He added that this year's first deflation on a monthly basis with -0.3% is already visible, and inflation on an annual basis decreased by 0.6 percentage points, reaching 2.4%. This means that if Bulgaria continues with this trend by the end of the year, it will meet the inflation criteria for membership in the Eurozone.
The Convergence Report, which will be released in June, will work with this data for the first quarter. This means that if Bulgaria wants to join the Eurozone in 2025, an extraordinary report will have to be requested at the end of the year. The guest explained that if there are no unexpected circumstances, the latest forecast date would be the beginning of 2026.
There is talk in the public space about changing the tax rate, and there are proposals for a progressive tax in our country. The economist does not think that this will happen soon, as Bulgaria has more serious problems with corruption and the judicial system, which are the main obstacles to attracting investments.
The gray sector is also a huge problem, as according to various data it is estimated at about 30% of the economy, Voinov explained that if a tax change is made, it will deepen these problems, and not alleviate them.