ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - Croatian National Bank (HNB) Governor Boris Vujčić said on Thursday that the introduction of the euro in the country as sole legal tender would strengthen the resilience to crisis, bring about better terms and conditions for borrowing, boost competitiveness and improve cost-efficiency.
The highest share of exchange risk and foreign currency lending risk will be eliminated, and banks will have direct access to the euro-area and the eurosystem's monetary operations, all of which will make their performance easier, Vujčić said at the 25th expert conference on the financial market, organised in Opatija by the Croatian Banking Association (HUB).
He recalled that all the preconditions for the changeover to the euro on 1 January 2023 had been met and that the Council of the EU was expected to make a formal decision on Croatia's admission to the euro area.
Croatia expects the Council to give a nod in July.
The country will start minting euro coins in the second half of 2022.
Vujčić said that all the segments of society would be ready for the euro changeover, and that preparations were proceeding as planned.
The governor is confident that Croatia will meet all the convergence criteria, including price stability, sound public finances, sustainable exchange-rate stability, fiscal criteria and the criterion concerning long-term interest rates.
As for a one-off price rise during the changeover, consumer prices are likely to go up by 0.2 percentage points in the first year of the euro adoption.
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