Slovenia Bulletin: Slovenia one step closer to euro

četrtek, julij 29, 2004

Slovenia one step closer to euro

At midnight on 27 June, Slovenia officially entered the exchange rate mechanism II (ERM II), a step towards the adoption of the euro as the national currency. Candidates for joining the euro zone must function with ERM II for two years before it can join the currency. Since other convergence criteria must also be met, it is not expected that Slovenia will join the bloc before 2007 [UVI / 29.06.04 / Slovenia Entered Exchange Rate Mechanism II].

Finance declared the move the “Economic Event of the Year” [Finance / 27.06.04 / Slovenian Tolar Tied to Euro at 239.64]. Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania all entered ERM II together with Slovenia.

A report released not long after the adoption of ERM II by Fitch Ratings predicted that inflation is lowering at a rate that should make euro convervence by 2007 a sure bet [SBW / 19.07.04 / Fitch Says Slovenia Could Introduce the Euro in Early 2007