site.btaHad Bulgaria Adopted the Euro, Inflation and Interest Rates Would Be Lower Today, PM Claims

“If we had the euro today, inflation would be lower and interest rates would be lower,” Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said on BNT, adding that adopting the euro is what will stabilise people's incomes. “Because the euro is a stable currency that leads to lower interest rates than the lev at the moment," the Prime Minister explained. In his words, inflation and interest rates in the euro area are about twice lower than they are in Bulgaria. "It is very important to stop living with some illusions and try to see what the real historical facts show. The big currencies - the dollar, the euro, they are more stable in this respect because there is a large volume that stabilises the currency," Denkov said.

"The thesis that prices will not rise in general is absolutely wrong. Prices are rising, there is inflation," the Prime Minister said, referring to people's fears that the introduction of the euro would also raise prices. He said the important thing was that incomes should rise faster than inflation.

According to him, the country needs a monopoly-free market economy and higher incomes, and these goals are reflected in this and next year’s budgets. "So far we have proved with Finance Minister Assen Vassilev that we know how to collect revenues and how to raise people's incomes. We have shown it with several budgets and we will do it with Budget 2024," Denkov assured.