Bulgaria is the only country of the EU which is complying with the budget deficit criterion, said Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission.

Despite the strong economic growth and low unemployment rate Bulgaria is catching up with the rest of the EU slowly, according to the European Commission spring economic report. The country has a high level of poverty and income inequality. The percentage of non-performing loans remains high. Supervision in the insurance sector needs to be additionally reinforced, even though considerable progress has been made. The challenges in the fight against corruption remain and there is no convincing evidence as yet of the prosecution of high-level cases.