Bulgaria is set to become the eurozone's 21st member next week, but some fear the switch could drive up prices and spark instability in the bloc's poorest nation.
In Bilyana Nikolova's grocery store in Chuprene, a village in northwestern Bulgaria, prices are now listed in both levs and euros on hundreds of food items and products.
Yet the 53-year-old shopkeeper said she worries that when the euro arrives in January, "it's going to be chaos."
Nikolova has even considered shutting down for a few weeks "until things sort themselves out," as she has already argued with customers.
"People see the lower price in euros, get confused, and think I'm lying to them," she said.
Across small villages in Bulgaria, concerns run high that the euro will mean higher prices.
The country's political uncertainty adds to the unease, with the latest short-lived government resigning earlier this month.
Nevertheless, Bulgaria will become the single currency area's 21st member on Jan. 1, nearly 19 years after the country of 6.4 million people joined the European Union.
Fears persist despite Bulgaria's economic strides. Over the past decade, its GDP has risen from about one-third to nearly two-thirds of the eurozone average.Yet Bulgaria remains the EU country with the highest share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, per Eurostat.
"These are the main concerns we encounter in small municipalities: the fear of becoming poorer, because people have very little in reserve," said Boryana Dimitrova of the Alpha Research polling institute.
"In the villages, three factors stack up: an older population, lower levels of education and financial literacy, and payments made mostly in cash," she added.
For January, the lev and euro will circulate together, but shopkeepers must give change in euros.Bulgarians can buy coin "starter kits," and demand is high, according to Bulgarian National Bank governor Dimitar Radev.
