Banker Levon Hampartzumyan Addresses Bulgaria’s Eurozone Entry and Currency Conversion Concerns

Photo: archive, BGNES

A dispute over the new law on the BNB marked the beginning of the working week of the parliament. The opposition criticized the management of the bank, saying that there is still no complete analysis of the pros and cons of the introduction of the single currency.

Banker and economist Levon Hampartzumyan expressed to the BNR the hope that the date for Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurozone will not be postponed, because, among other things, in his opinion, this also has the meaning of a “geopolitical anchor”.

“So far, this has been declared by the European institutions, accepted as our desire. We should not forget that we are joining a relatively well-functioning system, and not it joining us,” said the banker.

Asked why Bulgarians are afraid of the euro, Hampartsumyan stated that it is due to insufficient information.

“Nothing will happen. The system by which we measure our economic success or failure will be in euros instead of levs. I’m 1.80 cm tall. In inches I’ll be half that, but I’m still that tall. No we should blame the euro for our own fears and failures,” Hampartzumyan said.

Currency conversion will be at the expense of the state, there will be no fees and commissions for this. The banks will agree with the state how to do this without it being at the expense of the citizens, explained the banker.

There will be no rounding for mortgage loans. “Most likely, it will be automatic, because re-signing such a large number of contracts would be an administrative nightmare,” Hampartzumyan also pointed out.

We should distinguish between normal inflationary processes – price appreciation even without the euro, from expected effects after its introduction, commented Levon Hampartzumyan. In his words, “there are other factors that make things more expensive and fuel inflation.”

Even after the free period for exchanging the levs, “this money is exchangeable forever, only at the Central Bank or banks that will do so”, if you go to the Central Bank, it will be free from here until the end of the world, assured the banker.

“The value of that money doesn’t burn with change.” It is estimated that there are still about 30 billion marks in German homes, he added.

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2024-01-18 21:00:00


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