Our country is very close to entering the Eurozone. It remains to fulfill the so-called criterion for price stability. This is what BNB Governor Dimitar Radev said in an interview with Georgi Lyubenov on BNT.
"The expectation is that we will fulfill the criterion in December or at the latest in January. After that, the ball is in the politicians' court. The decision on the Eurozone is made with a political sanction," Radev pointed out.
He noted that the politicians who want our country to join the Eurozone should aim to get a decision from the EU Council within 2025.
"The date is a consequence of this decision. Usually, 6 months after this decision, a country must introduce the euro," explained Radev.
In his words, we must not forget that the door is open, but it can be closed.
Dimitar Radev also commented on the situation with the budget in the country.
According to him, after the Parliament's decisions from yesterday "there is light in the tunnel".
"But solving the issues in the budget sphere goes through solving the political crisis," said Radev.
In his words, what we need to do as a country is to give broad support for a positive agenda for the country.
He summed up this agenda with the word consolidation - political consolidation, institutional and fiscal consolidation.
"2024 in my opinion, it will end within the 3% budget deficit," said Radev.
"The budget package should contain a three-year fiscal program, a 4-year fiscal structural plan," he added.
In his words, by definition, inflation supports the deficit.
"The problem the Treasury is facing is that inflation is going down," he noted.
According to him, the situation with the budget at the moment was not something that was not emerging.
"We need to return to the disciplined fiscal stance that we maintained until 2020-2021. This conservatism in fiscal policy has helped us a lot - it is the basis of all the comparative advantages we have in the economic and financial sphere", he also commented.