December 22, 2022 - From the 1st of January 2023, the official currency in Croatia becomes the euro. Croatian kuna, the currency in use at the moment, will slowly go out of circulation. There will be a transition period of 15 days between 31 December 2022 and 15 January 2023, during which it will be possible to use both the euro and Croatian kuna; however, the change will be returned in euro whenever possible.

After having issued the first versions of Croatian euro coins, which are sold in post offices and Fina in Croatia, the Croatian National Bank is again presenting a new package of a slightly different nature.

As Index writes, The Croatian National Bank (CNB) has announced that it issued a numismatic set of circulating coins of the Republic of Croatia, kuna and lipa, with the year of minting "2022".

Like the previous sets, this set includes denominations of circulating coins of 5, 2, and 1 kuna, and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1 lipa, which were put into circulation in the current year.

Unlike previous numismatic sets, in this one, the coins are made using the mint forging technique, and it is issued in an amount of no more than 50,000 sets. The author is the academic sculptor Kuzma Kovačić, and the set was made by the Croatian Mint.

The CNB is informing all citizens who are interested in purchasing the set that two thousand sets will be available at the sales point of the Croatian National Bank, at the address Franje Račkoga 5 in Zagreb, while other quantities can be purchased or pre-ordered via the online store of the Croatian Mint.

It is possible to order or buy a maximum of one set in one transaction.

Orders and purchases based on a previously submitted invoice via the e-mail address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will not be accepted.

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December 20, 2022 - Euro Croatia: from the 1st of January 2023, the official currency in Croatia will be the euro. From January 1 to 14, 2023, there will be a dual circulation period, where kuna and euros can be used for cash payments.

As SiB / Net.hr write, on January 1, Croatia will enter the eurozone, and the euro will become the official currency. Although preparations for the euro are already in full swing, Croatian citizens will be able to pay with kuna even after the New Year. From January 1 to January 14, 2023, there will be a dual circulation period, where kuna and euros can be used for cash payments.

In the dual circulation period, citizens still have to pay attention to certain things. For example, a merchant or payee is not obliged to accept more than 50 kuna coins in one transaction. The payee is obliged to apply the regulations on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, which refer to the limit of the amount that can be paid in cash.

The change will be returned in euros, but it is possible to do so in kuna. The Law on the Introduction of the Euro provides that as an exemption from the application of the dual circulation rule if the business entity is not objectively able to return the rest of the amount in euro cash. In that case, they can return the remaining amount in kuna or kuna and euros.

As stated on the euro.hr page, which contains all the information related to the changeover to the euro; the dual circulation period starts on January 1, 2023, at 00:00 and ends on January 14, 2023, at 24:00.

CNB recommends citizens use debit cards as much as possible in transactions in the first days of 2023. "Furthermore, to facilitate cash transactions in the first days after the introduction of the euro, from the beginning of December 2022, citizens will be able to obtain starting packages of euro coins, which will enable them to pay in the new currency from the first day of 2023. With the same goal, In the first months of 2023, ATMs will have to be stocked mainly with euro banknotes of smaller denominations (of 10 and 20 euros)," according to the euro.hr website.

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December 6, 2022 - Due to the introduction of the euro in Croatia, only 40 percent of ATMs will soon be available. About 50 were shut down on Monday, and some have already received euros.

"You must go around every ATM, update it, and then prepare it to accept euro notes. There are over 40,000 ATM cassettes in 4,000 ATMs, and we have to adjust each one individually for the new dimensions of euro banknotes, which, of course, are different dimensions from kuna banknotes", explained Tihomir Mavriček, executive director of the CNB's cash sector, for RTL / reported by Poslovni.

During December, more than 2,700 ATMs will not work - during the transition period, only those that can withdraw both old and new currency will work. "The remaining 30 percent of ATMs, or 1,300 of them, will be adapted by January 15, 2023, from when all ATMs, about 4,000 of them, will be ready and only pay out euros," adds Mavriček.

A huge job awaits security services as well.

"Yes, during any attempt to steal money from an ATM, the money will be discoloured. It will take on a greenish-blue color, depending on which manufacturer it is, and the money will be unusable," Lidija Stolica, president of the Croatian Guild of Security Guards, told RTL.

The mass shutdown will begin in about ten days. "A small number will be shut down by December 15, and from December 15, the Croatian Association of Banks (HUB) will publish an interactive map of all ATMs in Croatia that are active in real-time so that all citizens know at all times which ATM is working and where they can withdraw cash", says Ivan Hrvoje Maljković from the Croatian Association of Banks for RTL.

There is no reason to panic unless you have no money on your card because even in smaller areas, you will be able to get cash. "Special focus was on smaller areas, where there are fewer ATMs - at the HUB level, the banks have agreed on the way to adjust the network so that citizens have sufficient ATMs available in every place in Croatia at any time," adds Maljković.

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December 1, 2022 - Tihomir Mavricek, executive director of the Cash Sector of the CNB, spoke about the introduction of the euro in Croatia for the N1 television. One month before the introduction of the euro as an official means of payment in the Republic of Croatia, citizens were able to purchase initial packages of euro coins.

Poslovni reports. "The initial package of euro coins contains 33 coins, three coins of 2 and 1 euro, 5 of 20, 50 and 10 cents, 3 of 5 cents, 4 of 2 cents, and 5 of 1 cent. The total value is 13.28 euros, and our citizens will be able to get it for exactly one hundred kunas in all branches of banks, post offices, and Fina", said Mavricek.

"They must not be used for payment until January 1, 2023," he emphasized for N1.

He also clarified why these euro coins are not allowed to be used by citizens and why they would not be valid in, for example, Slovenia. With the first of January, the euro becomes a means of payment.

"Until then, citizens could have problems if they pay with these coins, and they could also receive a fine because it is not a legal means of payment until then," said Mavricek.

He states that this is one of the last steps to prepare for introducing the euro in Croatia. He also referred to euro banknotes. "All the necessary quantities of euro banknotes are in our vaults; they are already being distributed to the banks."

He added that ATMs would be adjusted in December to dispense euros from January. "From January 15, the entire network of ATMs will dispense euros."

Mavricek mentioned another critical change that will facilitate the transition to the euro. "The CNB has agreed with the banks that from December 15, the fee for withdrawing banknotes from ATMs of other banks will be abolished, for kuna until the end of December, and for euros from January 1 to 15."

What will happen to kuna coins after the changeover to the euro?

"From the first of October, when we urged our citizens to deposit extra kuna in banks, coins started to arrive, and they will be taken care of safely. This means that in three years, they will be sold as secondary raw materials when they cease to be a means of payment. It is a huge logistical task, and it takes time," Mavricek said, adding that kuna coins can also be recycled into euros.

"We will process and cut the banknotes on the banknote processing systems, and then the rest will be taken care of," he concluded.

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November 24, 2022 - Euro in Croatia: on the first day of 2023, the euro will become the official currency in Croatia. Paying in kuna (only in cash) will be possible until January 14. Preparations for the introduction of the euro in Croatia from January 1, 2023, are proceeding without any problems and according to plan, as was pointed out this week at the session of the National Council for the introduction of the euro.

As Poslovni / N1 write, Croatian citizens are already mostly familiar with what awaits them from the first of January. One of the questions that remain, however, is what will happen to the utility bills for December, which will arrive in January.

The utility bills for the December consumption will be issued in January 2023 and will be expressed in euros, according to the Croatian Association of Bankers.

For all payment slips that the citizens receive in advance and on which the amount of payment is in kuna, and they pay them after the introduction of the euro, the bank is obliged to make payment in euro in the amount corresponding to the amount of kuna specified on the payment order. The bank will act this way until July 1, 2023, says the Croatian Association of Bankers.

It is crucial to emphasize, they remind, that from the 5^th of September until the 31^st of December 2022, the dual pricing continues. This means that the final amount of the bill will be in HRK and EUR with the fixed conversion rate specified.

There are exceptions to that:

• value shown for prepaid electronic communication services (prepaid vouchers)
• the value and amount stated on the payment order based on an invoice or other individual document, i.e. based on the displayed price
• the value shown on cards for public payphones
• the value printed on the SIM card packaging

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