Bulgaria is negotiating with the EC to introduce the euro as a parallel currency for transactions in 2024. This became clear on Wednesday from the answers of Finance Minister Asen Vassilev, who officially presented the draft budget for 2023. In practice, if Brussels and the European Central Bank give the “green light”, natural persons in the country will have the opportunity to carry out their transactions on a voluntary basis either in levs or euros. Such a mechanism is already implemented by Montenegro.
Mediapool sources indicated that more are being negotiated from the beginning of next year, the parallel prices in euros will also appear in the commercial network, and citizens will be able to make a choice in which currency to pay. In practice, the Ministry of Finance is preparing to apply this measure much earlier, because the simultaneous prices in both Euro and BGN are mandatory in the first months after the final acceptance of Bulgaria into the Eurozone.
Negotiations are ongoing with the EC and the ECB
It turned out that Bulgaria is already conducting negotiations for the introduction of the euro as a parallel currency, and Vassilev did not want to reveal details about them.
“Let’s have all the conversations with the European Central Bank and the EC, and if there is a change in the plan for the euro, it will be commented on in a timely manner”, Vassilev said. He, however explained in detail what it means for the euro to be used as a parallel currency in our country.
“You know that in Bulgaria at the moment companies can carry out transactions in euros. But natural persons are not allowed to carry out transactions in euros, as well as to receive our salaries in euros. We know that there are countries such as Montenegro that actually allow these transactions to take place on a voluntary basis. I.e. if two people want and can carry out transactions in euros, they can do so without the state restricting them. At the moment, the transactions that are for natural persons such as final sales, salaries by law are carried out only in BGN”Vassilev said.
A day ago, Vassilev pointed out that at the moment business loses BGN 1.5 billion annually from transaction fees and that is why the country’s acceptance into the Eurozone is important.
Vassilev did not clarify whether the euro will be equal to the leva legal tender for all operations.
On Wednesday, Vassilev pointed out that Bulgaria currently meets two of the three criteria for accepting the euro. The criteria related to up to 3% deficit and the debt related criterion are covered.
“The criterion related to inflation, we are starting to get closer, but there is a question, as was the case with Croatia, which countries will be taken out as exceptions to the other countries”, specified the Minister of Finance.
A tax on multinational companies is also being introduced
Starting next year, the introduction of a tax on multinational companies, which in our country are mainly retail chains and banks, is due.
“It is about for an EU-wide tax on multinational companiesbut as a consequence of it we we will get higher revenue in our budgetif there are such companies that are on the territory of the country. It is about companies that have revenues over 800 million euros and are multinational in certain criteria. There are such companies in Bulgaria large retailers and in the banking sector. The additional estimates at this point, of the additional 5% corporation tax that will be collected, are I think of the order of BGN 250 million.“, said Asen Vassilev.
In general, the draft budget proposed by Asen Vasilev for 2023 has a deficit of up to 3% and does not foresee an increase in taxes.
2023-06-28 07:32:20
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