SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria is scrapping its target date of January 2024 for euro adoption as it fails to meet some criteria but will seek to join the common currency by 2025 or possibly earlier, Finance Minister Rossitsa Velkova said on Friday.
Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest member state, aimed to join the euro zone from next year as it seeks more investment and credit security, but has struggled with political crises and is set for its fifth election in two years in April.
Velkova told reporters on Friday that the country was not meeting criteria on inflation nor had it adopted some necessary legal changes.
“We have not delivered on pledges we made when we joined the ERM-2 and we do not meet the inflation criteria,” Velkova said.
She said that not having clarity on a euro entry target in the next half year could have a negative impact on the country’s credit ratings.
She added, though, the country could strive to still complete euro adoption from mid-2024 if it met criteria for that.
(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Writing by Alan Charlish and Jason Hovet; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
