Bulgaria’s lev cash lingers

By the end of June, most of Bulgaria's old money had already made its way home. The Bulgarian National Bank had taken in BGN 29.4 billion in lev banknotes and coins, equal to 94.48% of the cash that was in circulation at the start of 2025 (24 Chasa, Fakti). In its place, euro notes and coins worth about €8.8 billion now sit in wallets, tills and cash drawers across the country (Fakti).

There was no currency shock hidden in the exchange. Every lev converts at BGN 1.95583 to the euro, a rate fixed in law (BNB). Bulgaria had effectively lived with that discipline for years: since 1997, its currency board had tied the lev to Europe's monetary anchor. Joining the euro changed the notes in people's hands, rather than the underlying price of the money.

The short period when shops accepted both currencies ended on 1 February 2026. Since then, the euro has been Bulgaria's only legal tender (Vesti).

The last BGN 1.7 billion is a map of who uses cash most

About BGN 1.7 billion is still outside the central bank's vaults (24 Chasa). Some of it will be in jars, envelopes, rural homes, children's savings boxes and small-business safes that have not been opened in a while (Novinite, Viaranews). Nobody has lost their money. The BNB will exchange old levs into euros for free, with no deadline and no cap on the amount (Fakti).

What changed on 1 July was convenience. Commercial banks and post offices had to exchange levs free of charge only until 30 June. From July, they are allowed to charge fees (Club Z, BNR News). The loss is not a bad exchange rate. It is the bus journey to a BNB cash desk, the queue, the paperwork, and the bother of carrying cash across a district for what may be a small family stash.

That makes the missing cash politically useful, even if the official number is only a total. It points towards the people who still rely most on physical money: older residents, informal workers, rural households and small shopkeepers. The BNB says how much cash is left. It does not say where it is, or who is holding it, by region, age or income (24 Chasa).

Prices, not notes, are what people argue about

Croatia offers the nearest recent lesson. It joined the euro on 1 January 2023 at a fixed rate of 1 EUR = 7.53450 HRK (Council of the EU). The European Commission later judged the practical changeover smooth, with only a limited direct effect on prices (European Commission). Consumers were less easily persuaded. Many blamed the euro for restaurant rounding and hotel price rises, while analysts pointed instead to energy and services as stronger forces behind inflation (Večernji list).

Bulgaria is now in the same argument. Eurostat's June 2026 flash estimate put annual inflation at 5.3%, even though prices fell 0.4% month on month (Euronews). Much of the annual rate comes from energy costs, not rounding at the till. Bulgaria also required dual price displays from August 2025 through August 2026, so shoppers saw lev and euro prices side by side on labels, making quiet markups harder to hide (Vesti).

Irish readers will recognise the pattern. A fixed conversion rate can be mathematically clean, and still leave people feeling that everyday prices have shifted under them. The political test is less about the central bank's arithmetic than about trust at the counter.

Neighbours watch, and see what they want to see

Polish coverage has treated Bulgaria's move as a warning that cheap Bulgarian holidays could follow Croatia's path towards higher prices (Onet). In Romania, the story reads differently: Bulgaria is now inside the euro while Bucharest still falls short on the entry tests for inflation and public finances (Economica, ECB). The same facts are being used to tell different national stories.

For Bulgaria, the quietness of the changeover is the point. The last BGN 1.7 billion will come back slowly through BNB counters over the coming months. The argument about what the euro did to prices will last longer than the old cash.