Bulgarian National Bank

the central state bank of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, acting as the country’s bank of issue and credit center. It was organized in December 1947 on the basis of the former National Bank of Bulgaria, a bank of issue created in 1879. The Bulgarian National Bank holds money of the state, budget institutions, banks, and other financial and credit agencies of the country that is not immediately needed. It regulates monetary circulation, exercises control over the expenditure of the wage fund and the cash fulfillment of the state budget, determines the exchange rate of foreign currencies in Bulgarian leva, buys and sells foreign currency, and purchases precious metals and other currency valuables. It participates in drawing up the unified plan for the country’s socioeconomic development, the consolidated financial and currency plans, and the balance of the income and expenditures of the population, as well as in formulating a unified credit and cash plan for the country. In 1947 the functions of nationalized private banks passed over to the Bulgarian National Bank. Until April 1969, in the regulation of monetary circulation in the country, the bank provided credit and financing for associations, enterprises, and economic bodies and exercised control over capital investments. In April 1969 these functions were turned over to newly organized specialized banks: the Bulgarian Industrial Bank and the Bulgarian Farming and Commercial Bank. These banks perform their activities in localities through offices of the Bulgarian National Bank.