Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Business suffers severe damage from Bulgaria's delayed membership in the Eurozone and Schengen

Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev
Photo: BGNES-archive

''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.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Tomislav Donchev and Mila Nenova, Executive Director of Invest Bulgaria Agency, at the presentation of the map.

Ministry of Innovation and Growth presents Bulgaria’s first interactive investment map

The Ministry of Innovation and Growth has presented the country’s first interactive investment map . The platform aims to provide Bulgarian and foreign investors with useful and up-to-date information in one place, making it easier for them to make..

published on 10/17/25 10:37 AM

Bulgargaz proposes 8% increase in natural gas price for November

The Bulgarian state-owed natural gas supplier Bulgargaz has proposed that the price of natural gas for November increases by around 8% to nearly 66 BGN per megawatt-hour, excluding fees and taxes, reported BNR's journalist Yuliana Kornazheva. The..

published on 10/16/25 5:18 PM

BNB calls on the state to pursue conservative financial policy

The growth of the national economy in the second quarter of 2025 accelerated by 3.5% on an annual basis. According to an analysis by the Bulgarian National Bank - BNB, the main factors for the acceleration are the decrease in imports..

published on 10/16/25 11:28 AM