''The loss from Bulgaria's delayed membership in the Eurozone and Schengen is between 4% and 5% of the country's GDP'', Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev said in an interview for Nova TV. ''The business loses between EUR 250 million and EUR 500 million just from currency conversion. Separately, delaying eurozone membership leads to higher interest rates and less investment'', Minister Vassilev said.
The losses stemming from Bulgaria’s delayed membership in Schengen are also huge, Minister Vassilev said with regard to the government’s draft decree, according to which Bulgaria should include in an official document the date January 1, 2025, as a target date for adopting the euro. Assen Vassilev said that this act is necessary, because the caretaker cabinet had not written down the date January 1, 2024, as the target date for Eurozone membership, and because it had drafted a budget with a 6.4% deficit.
41% of the member companies of the Bulgarian Industrial Association expect an economic decline in 2025. 21% believe there will be no change compared to 2024. 65% of the respondents anticipate a deterioration in their own business due to the..
The price of electricity for households could increase by nearly 9% starting next year, according to estimates by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission. This means that with an average consumption of nearly 400 kilowatt-hours, the monthly bills..
The leadership of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) insists that a national subsistence wage be introduced in Bulgaria, with the minimum wage in the country reaching at least 80% of the subsistence wage by 2027. According..
Partly Cloudy
Mostly Cloudy
Cloudy