From leva to euro: Bulgaria will melt over 10,500 tons of coins and will print euro banknotes in Sofia

Bulgaria is making significant progress in the total transition to the euro, announcing that it will start producing the first euro banknotes in accordance with the quota allocated by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Iliya Lingorski, a member of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), stated that the initial batch of euro banknotes will enter circulation at the beginning of 2026. In parallel, the BNB will destroy the old leva coins, with a total volume of over 10,527 tons withdrawn from circulation. By the end of January, over 3.3 billion leva coins had been withdrawn. Although the leva will be officially withdrawn on February 1, 2026, citizens will be able to exchange leva coins at the BNB indefinitely, and commercial banks will accept exchanges until June 30. Lingorski assured that the BNB will continue to exchange uncovered leva coins for free, even after a decade.

Currently, EU countries that have not adopted the euro include Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, and Denmark.