As a result of the reforms carried out in recent years, a high degree of institutional convergence was achieved in the banking sector. The concrete results are the full membership of the country in the European Banking Union and the indicators of our banking sector. All independent observers point out that our banking sector is profitable and well capitalised, including in the report on Bulgaria that the OECD presented yesterday. It gives clear messages that key indicators for our banking sector, such as capital adequacy and liquidity, are above the average level not only for the European Union, but also for the OECD countries. Institutional convergence is therefore not an exercise in itself. It brings significant positive results. Fiscal consolidation means restoring our more than 20-year track record of drawing up and exercising a disciplined budget, which was somewhat lost in the last two years. Fiscal consolidation is important both in the short term and in the medium and long term. In the short term, it is important because it is the main macroeconomic tool at our country's disposal to contain and reduce inflation, which, as stated, is the only criterion for joining the euro area that we do not meet. Even outside the context of the euro area, fiscal consolidation is important, with a view to avoiding the macroeconomic imbalances we witnessed only a few years ago.
The credit for this goes mainly to the Ministry of Finance. We, as a Central Bank, try to contribute to this process in the best possible way. The formal launch is a matter of decision by the government. I see no reason why this should not happen within the current month. Preconditions The third topic that I will touch on is: What are the conditions for the tasks I talked about to be successfully completed and thus to successfully complete the entire process of joining the euro area? The short answer to these conditions is contained, in my opinion, in one word: "consolidation" with three important dimensions – political, institutional and fiscal. 3/5  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Political consolidation means a functioning parliament and a regular government with clearly defined and consistently implemented priorities, and joining the euro area must definitely be one of these priorities. Institutional consolidation means ambitious reforms to address the still serious institutional deficits in the country and achieve the much-needed institutional convergence. Perhaps biased, but I will give an example with the BNB. In 2014-2015, the Central Bank, and the banking sector as a whole, were the subject of sharp political attacks and heated political discussions. Among other things, one of the main reasons was precisely the institutional deficits in the banking sector. It was about both the state of banking supervision and the lack of an institutional framework for solving problems in the banking sector.