Sofia, December 6 (BTA) - Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone will lead to an increase in people's incomes, Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governor Dimitar Radev said in a bTV interview on Monday morning.

"It is not by accident that the trade unions are among the strongest advocates of this process," Radev said.

He was noncommittal about January 1, 2024 as the target date for adopting the common European currency. "We are ready to cope with the large volume of work that remains to be done over the next two years, but a political decision has yet to be made," he pointed out.

The BNB Governor said that the lev will be replaced by the euro at the current fixed exchange rate of 1.9553 leva/euro.

People's lev deposits will be automatically switched to euro. The two currencies will be used simultaneously for just a month, and prices will be initially quoted in both euro and leva. This period will start six months before the entry into the Eurozone and will end a year after that so that people can get used to the change.

Radev specified that Bulgaria is doing very well in terms of the budget deficit with which it is supposed to join the euro area and this criterion is unlikely to hold back its progress in this respect.

The interviewee was adamant that despite growing inflation, the banking system in this country is stable. In his projections, inflation will level off next year.

He said that the funds held in bank deposits have increased during the COVID epidemic. "Deposits have been growing back before the crisis began: people are really concerned and are saving but, on the other hand, they lack investment opportunities," the Governor explained. He noted the steep increase in housing purchases but described it as a trend rather than a bubble. Radev does not see these trends as good signs for the development of the economy but nevertheless expects it to recover to its pre-crisis levels at the end of 2022. MT/LG