Don't think I'll change my holiday spending money from Leva into Euro just yet.

The Novinite article fails to reflect the scepticism of at least some analysts - for example in a Reuters report of 16th September:

Some analysts said they were surprised to hear Sofia repeating its intention to apply for ERM-2 in November as the message from Brussels had so far been negative.

"It means that either they (the government) are silly or they have indeed talked to the European Commission and something has changed," said Agata Urbanska of ING bank.

"I would be surprised if things have changed ... There is a huge contraction, the current account can only worsen not improve in 2010," she added.

from a purely selfish tourist point of view, I'll be pleased to have a few more years of travelling to Bulgaria, without the Euro.
having seen the way prices in Spain and even more in Greece shot up, its a relief that its not happening sooner.

But thats the tourist speaking. What does it mean to the average guy in the streets of Sofia though ?
Would the Euro make their life better ? If it would well, I could live with my 1 lev beer, becoming a 1 Euro beer, even although I'd have a moan about the price doubling.

Hi justjoe,

The average guy on the streets of Sofia tends to be significantly better off than the average guy just about anywhere else in Bulgaria, as salaries are generally higher.

Given that the new Bulgarian government has put a hold on (and, in some cases reduced) salaries in order to try to balance the budget since they came into power in June, early adoption of the Euro is unlikely to improve the lot of the average Bulgarian - especially in the short term.

If it helps the country, then it can only be a good thing, but yes as a selfish tourist and having seen it being fairly cheap when I visted last week, it would be a shame. 1 Euro beers, but for how long if they ever did it? You don't go Spain and see 1 Euro beers, is this greed or geunine currency issues?

That said with the Lev being pegged to the Euro, the rates are quite shocking right now. I was surprised to learn only a few years ago the rates were 2.80 Lev to the £1, which must have made 1 Lev beers something like 20p?!

I was surprised to learn only a few years ago the rates were 2.80 Lev to the £1, which must have made 1 Lev beers something like 20p?

It was actually 2.88 to 2.91 Leva to the Pound in the summer of 2007 (using my Nationwide Flex account debit card to withdraw Leva from Bulgarian ATMs) - a 500ml bottled beer like Kamenitsa/Shumensko (significantly more expensive than draught) was 79 Stotinki in the cafe bar in my village then (think it's around 90 Stotinki this year), so cost around 27 pence at the best exchange rate.

That is crazy, though it shows how much they charge at Sunny Beach, cheapest beer was draught at 0.70, but most places were 1-2.99 Lev for the draught.

I've not checked my Nationwide yet but my girlfriend had 2.18 from Natwest from the bank, shame how much it has dropped!

Also you might know, but 2L bottles of Coke/Fanta/Sprite had a price of 1.89 printed on the bottles and some beers had prices, yet at not one supermarket did they charge 1.89. Cheapest we had 2L for was 2.60 Lev, but Valdi had it for 3.80 Lev. Is that a RRP printed on the pack and if so is it again the tourists being ripped off?

Also you might know, but 2L bottles of Coke/Fanta/Sprite had a price of 1.89 printed on the bottles and some beers had prices, yet at not one supermarket did they charge 1.89. Cheapest we had 2L for was 2.60 Lev, but Valdi had it for 3.80 Lev. Is that a RRP printed on the pack and if so is it again the tourists being ripped off?

In the 'normal' supermarkets that I used in Varna & Dobrich, either the manufacturers' printed 'offer prices' were charged or (in many cases) less than that price - as a supermarket promotional offer.

Resorts anywhere in the world tend to have higher prices than the 'real' countries in which they are situated - resorts like Sunny Beach/Golden Sands/Albena, etc., only really exist for a few months of the year and then specifically for tourists; for the remainder of the year they are basically 'ghost towns'.

The management groups of the resorts charge concessionaires (restaurants, bars, supermarkets, traders, taxi drivers, etc.) vast amounts of rent for the opportunity to ply their trade within the resort area - hence the high prices. Some bars in Albena, for example, were charging 4 or 5 Leva for large beers.

The relative lack of 'affluent tourists' and the trend in some resorts towards 'All Inclusive' packages has caused many problems for these concessionaires, which has a knock-on effect on other ordinary businesses - just before I left Bulgaria earlier this month, I was talking to an acquaintance of a Bulgarian friend, who runs a laundry service. He said that he was owed 7,000 Leva by a restaurant in Golden for laundry and that the restaurateur had told him that he simply couldn't pay him and couldn't say when he would be able to do so, because of lack of business.