Central bank to exchange Levs for Euros as Bulgaria joins Eurozone

The Central bank of Cyprus on Wednesday said it will offer to exchange Bulgarian Levs for Euros free of charge during the first part of 2026, with Bulgaria set to join the Eurozone on Thursday.

The bank will accept the exchange of Bulgarian Levs between January 2 and March 2 based on an exchange rate of €1 to 1.95583lv.

People wishing to exchange Levs for Euros will be able to do so at a rate no higher than 2,000lv per day, and will be required to present identification.

Banknotes of 5lv from the 1999, 2009, and 2020 series, 10lv from the 1999, 2008, and 2020 series, 20lv from the 1999, 2007, and 2020 series, 50lv from the 1999, 2006, and 2019 series, and 100lv from the 2003 and 2018 series will be accepted for exchange. No coins or other banknotes will be accepted.

The bank will be open to exchange notes on weekdays between 8.30am and 1.30pm.

Bulgaria will adopt the Euro as its official currency on Thursday, becoming the 20th member of the Eurozone and the 26th country to adopt the currency.

The country’s adoption of the currency means that 20 of the European Union’s 27 member states will now use the Euro, with four non-EU member states – Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City using the currency in line with bilateral agreements with the EU, and Kosovo and Montenegro having unilaterally adopted the Euro.

In doing so, it will abandon the Lev, which had been the country’s official currency in various iterations since 1880.

The current Lev, the fourth iteration, was adopted in 1999 and pegged at a rate of one to one to the German Mark, with its current exchange rate to the Euro carried over from that of the Mark after Germany adopted the Euro the same year. The third Lev had been pegged to the Mark at a rate of 1,000 to one since 1997.

Cyprus has used the Euro since January 2008, having used the Cypriot Pound until then. One Euro was worth a little over 58 cents in the Pound.