Today marks the final day on which people in Bulgaria can exchange levs for euros at commercial banks and participating post offices without paying service charges. Beginning tomorrow, both banks and Bulgarian Post will introduce fees for the currency exchange service, while the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) will continue offering unlimited exchanges free of charge.
Under the new rules, commercial banks will apply the fees established under their own pricing policies. Bulgarian Post will also begin charging based on the amount exchanged. The fee will be 6 euros for transactions of up to 1,000 leva, while exchanges exceeding 10,000 leva will cost 10 euros.
According to the latest figures, approximately 93% of the levs circulating in the country had already been returned by May. Nevertheless, around 2 billion leva remain outside the cash reserves of the Bulgarian National Bank, leaving a significant volume of currency still to be exchanged.
Plamen Minchev, who manages a post office in the village of Gradevo, said public interest was strongest during the first months of the exchange campaign. “It was extremely busy in January. February and March were also very busy. After that, interest calmed down and remained at a relatively constant level until the end of the period,” he explained.
