site.btaIn Bulgaria’s Modern History, Local Money Pre-dated Post-Liberation Statehood, Economics Professor Says
In Bulgaria's modern history, the emergence of money pre-dated the emergence of the State after the country's liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878, Prof. Pencho Penchev of Sofia's University of National and World Economy (UNWE) said here on Tuesday. He spoke at the launch of the December 2025 issue of BTA's LIK monthly magazine titled "Bulgarian Money".
"Bulgarian modernity started before the liberation and before the emergence of the Bulgarian State," the professor concluded. Local currency was minted in Tryavna, Lom, Shumen and Panagyurishte, where it took the form of square-shaped coins called 'vot'.
Penchev spoke about money from the perspective of identity, culture and literature. In terms of history, money belonged to an exclusively intimate personal sphere, he argued, citing a long short story by Bulgarian classic Elin Pelin and the diary of prominent writer Chudomir.
Prof. Penchev teaches Economic History, History of Economic Theories and Comparative Political Economy at the UNWE. He contributed to LIK an article titled "The Progress of Money in the Bulgarian Lands".
The launch of the magazine issue took place at the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Head Office in Sofia and also involved BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Assoc. Prof. Dr Yulia Zaharieva of the Sofia University Faculty of Law, Assoc. Prof. Georgi Lozanov (Editor-in-Chief of LIK), and LIK Managing Editor Yanitsa Hristova.
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