The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has removed the Bulgarian lev from the list of currencies with an official exchange rate

The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has updated the rules for determining the official exchange rates of foreign currencies against the KGS. The Bulgarian lev has been removed from the list of currencies for which the exchange rate was set on a weekly basis.

The reason behind this decision is that on January 1, 2026, Bulgaria officially switched to the euro, completing a long-term process of integration into the eurozone. The lev, which served as the country's national currency, is now history.

Since 2002, according to open sources, its exchange rate has been pegged to the euro at 1.95583 levs per euro. Since 2020, Bulgaria has been in the ERM II exchange rate mechanism, and in July 2025, it finally received the green light to join the eurozone. The country welcomed the new year with euros in its wallets.

Against this backdrop, the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan removed the KGS from the list of currencies used to calculate the official exchange rate. There is simply no point in maintaining the exchange rate of a currency that is no longer in circulation.

At the same time, the procedure for determining exchange rates for major currencies remains the same: the dollar, euro, ruble, and tenge are calculated daily, while the rest, now 38 in number, are calculated weekly.