Bulgaria is now among the 15 countries without macroeconomic imbalances for the first time. Initially Bulgaria was on the list of excessive imbalances, two years ago it was included in the list of countries with imbalances, and now it is completely off the list of problematic countries.
Overall, however, macroeconomic problems remain in the EU. Three EU countries continue to have imbalances (Greece, Cyprus and Italy) and nine others have imbalances (including neighbouring Romania and Croatia).
Only one country was taken off the black list this year, and that is Bulgaria. One of the reasons for this improvement are the measures taken to prepare for ERM II entry. The mere fact that the country no longer suffers from macroeconomic imbalances is a further argument for admission to ERM II. The other candidate for ERM II (Croatia) is still on the list of countries with macroeconomic imbalances and will have to make further efforts to address the problems.