Bulgaria continues to meet the price stability criterion for the euro area in July.
This is known from the latest data from the European statistical office Eurostat, BTA specified.
According to the Maastricht criteria, inflation for the last 12 months should not exceed by more than 1.5 percentage points the growth rate of consumer prices in the three member states with the best results in the field of price stability.
Average annual inflation in Bulgaria for the last 12 months (for the period August 2024 - July 2025 compared to the period August 2023 - July 2024), measured by the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), amounted to 2.8 percent in July, remaining at the same level as in the previous month of June.
In the seventh month of this year 2025, the countries with the lowest average annual inflation were Ireland (1.2 percent), France (1.3 percent), Italy and Finland (1.6 percent each).
This means that the reference value for fulfilling the price stability criterion in July amounted to 2.86 percent, the same as in the previous month of June. With an average annual inflation rate in our country of 2.8 percent, our country continues to fulfill this criterion.
On July 8 of this year, Bulgaria received a final "yes" from the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament to become the 21st member of the euro area from January 1, 2026.