Bulgaria Already Consuming Effect of Upcoming Eurozone Membership, Says Senior Economist at World Bank's Sofia Office

Dimitrina Solakova, Delyan Petrishki

Desislava Nikolova, senior economist at the World Bank's office in Bulgaria (second from right), at the discussion on Bulgaria in the eurozone, Sofia, June 23, 2025 (BTA Photo/Blagoy Kirilov)

Sofia,

23.06.2025 16:05

(BTA)

Bulgaria is already consuming the effect of its upcoming eurozone membership, and this is seen in the yield achieved at the auction for the sale of a reopened issue of 7-year government securities last week, which decreased by 41 basis points to 3.06. The spread between Bulgarian and German benchmark government bonds also narrowed, Desislava Nikolova, senior economist at the World Bank's office in Bulgaria, said here on Monday. She was speaking at a professional discussion on "Bulgaria in the Euro Area: Prices, Investment and Fiscal Policy”.

The discussion was part of the programme of the two-day 3rd Annual Conference of the Council for Economic Analyses, which started Monday morning at the St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia.

Among the participants in the discussion, which was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Sofia University, were also Deputy Prime Minister and and Council for Economic Analyses head Tomislav Donchev, Council Secretary Plamen Nenov, Fiscal Council member Lyubomir Datsov, and Atanas Pekanov, senior economist at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research.

Nikolova listed benefits of Bulgaria's membership in the euro area, including the elimination of transaction costs in money transfers, the expected increase in Bulgaria's sovereign credit rating, and easier access of the State and private entities to credit resources. Nikolova did not rule out that the first upgrade of Bulgaria's credit rating would be a fact within days and would be a result of the voted decision on the country's accession to the eurozone.

Nikolova also touched upon the issue of fiscal policy. She fully agreed with Nenov's opinion that the time seemed right to start the process of “putting public finances in order at national and sub-national level”.

Drawing on World Bank calculations, Nikolova said that in terms of the revenue side of the central budget, the current tax system provides many opportunities to increase revenues without changing tax rates, one of the biggest opportunities being in terms of VAT.

On the expenditure side, the macroeconomist stressed the need for efficient spending of public funds and the need for changes in public procurement procedures.

/DT/