Almost a year ago, Dr. Jeffrey Nilsen, Chair of the Economics Department at AUBG, became member of the Bulgarian Council for Economic Analyses, established by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers. The Council aims to provide the Bulgarian Government with a plan for gradual and sustainable process of providing the Bulgarian Government with in-depth academic economic expertise to serve as a starting point for strategic decisions on policy change. Recently, the Council presented a policy brief that provided evidence on potential economic effects for Bulgaria from joining the euro area. The focus of the brief is on four economic channels that the researchers viewed as central to the country’s accession to the euro, namely inflation, trade integration, capital flows, and interest rates. Applying his expertise in the sphere of capital flows, Prof. Nilsen analyzed the Bulgarian context and gave insights on the potential effects in the sphere of Bulgaria joining the euro area.
The Council assesses the long-term challenges facing the Bulgarian economy and make proposals on the most appropriate policies to address these challenges. It serves as an advisory body and includes economists from the academic community, including from prestigious international universities. The establishment of the Council is foreseen in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Bulgaria.
