February 21 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria is preparing to enter the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II), the mandatory precursor to Eurozone membership, but the initial target date of April might be postponed by a few months, European Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis said.
In an interview for public radio BNR on Thursday Dombrovskis said that Bulgaria's finance minister Vladislav Goranov had assured him that the country is progressing well in delivering on the commitments it made before the European Commission and the European Central Bank as part of its plan to adopt the euro but the target date might be delayed by a few months.
Dombrovskis also said that as far as he knew, everything is going according to plan and he sees no reason for a delay.
Bulgaria will also be allowed to keep its currency pegged to the euro at a rate of 1.95583 levs per 1 euro until the country joins the Eurozone, Dombrovskis stressed.
Earlier this week, Bulgaria's prime ministry Boyko Borissov said that the government will slow down the tempo of progress towards entering ERM II until a national consensus on the matter is reached.