BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) – The concrete exchange rate for the introduction of the euro in Croatia has been set.
The exchange rate was set at 7.5345 kuna per euro at the meeting of European finance ministers on Tuesday, according to a statement by the EU Council. The Balkan state wants to introduce the European common currency on January 1, 2023 – so it still has almost half a year for the technical preparations. The euro area currently consists of 19 of the 27 EU member states. Lithuania last adopted the euro as its official currency in 2015.
The Czech EU Council Presidency announced that it was a sensible political decision. “Croatia meets all the necessary economic criteria.” In the run-up to the formal decision on Tuesday, criteria such as price and exchange rate stability, sound budgetary management and long-term interest rates were reviewed. The Czech Republic itself has not yet introduced the euro.
The European Central Bank announced that numerous Croatian financial institutions have been monitored by the ECB since 2020. ECB President Christine Lagarde spoke of a reason for joy and congratulated Croatia. EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said that a larger euro zone would also have more influence internationally. With the euro it will be easier to invest in Croatia. More jobs in the country and a rising standard of living can be expected.
Croatia, with around four million inhabitants, has been a member of the EU since 2013, but has so far kept the kuna as its currency. The country has been independent since 1991. Neighbor Slovenia – also formerly part of Yugoslavia – introduced the euro in 2007.
The euro slipped almost below the symbolic $1 mark on Tuesday, falling to $1.00005, a 20-year low. The fear of a recession and the significantly faster rise in interest rates in the USA are currently affecting the euro. The common currency started in 1999 at a rate of just over 1.17 dollars. The previous record low was $0.8225 in October 2000, but the euro then climbed to a record high of 1.6038 by July 2008.
(Report by Christian Krämer, edited by Scot W. Stevenson; If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for companies and markets). )