Bulgaria says not interested in euro waiting room for now

(SOFIA) - Bulgaria has no plans right now to join the ERM II two-year waiting room to the eurozone, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said Wednesday, citing the region's economic troubles.

"Bulgaria at this point in time has no interest in entering the ERM II waiting room to the eurozone," Djankov was quoted as saying by the state BTA news agency.

"Despite the fact that we are ready to make this last step to the eurozone, I do not think it is in our interest to make it right now," Djankov said.

"There is huge uncertainty and we should not rush. That is why we will wait until things calm down," he added.

Djankov had made joining the Exchange Rate Mechanism II process and the eurozone his prime task when he took office in 2009.

But the "many bad things" that have happened in the eurozone since then have dissuaded him from applying for now, he said Wednesday.

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and had hoped to join the eurozone as soon as 2011.

Although still the EU's poorest member, the small Balkan state has weathered the world economic crisis well and managed to preserve its macroeconomic stability, making it now one of the EU members with the lowest public debt ratio of just 15.6 percent of gross domestic product.

Bulgaria's currency, the lev, was tied to Germany's deutsche mark in 1997 and since the passage to the common European currency, has been at a fixed rate of 1.9558 leva to the euro.