February the 20th, 2023 - Around 4,000 Croatian euro coins are producted in one single minute by the responsible machines, an impressive feat indeed.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, owing to the introduction of the euro at the beginning of this year, the Croatian Mint has had to produce a total of 650 million coins, about two-thirds of that work was carried out last year, and the remaining part - about 200 million Croatian euro coins in total - should be completed this year.

In the modernly equipped mint, which is owned by the Croatian National Bank (CNB/HNB), highly sought-after numismatic gold and silver Croatian euro coins are produced, and preparations are also being made for the possible production of euro coins for other member states of the European Union (EU) as well.

About four thousand Croatian euro coins come out of the machines in one single minute. In just over five months last year, the Croatian mint minted as many as 405 million coins. Work was carried out in three shifts, 24 hours a day, Roman Husta, director of production at the Croatian Mint, explained during his appearance on Dnevnik HTV.

"This year, we have basically the same amount of forging per minute, about 4 to 4.5 thousand coins is the average, but considering the reduced amount of forging tiles we've been receiving from our suppliers, we've been working at a slightly reduced pace," Husta added.

The plan is to mint another 200 million Croatian euro coins

This year, the plans are to mint around 200 million more Croatian euro coins in order to reach the planned amount needed for the complete exchange of the former currency (the Croatian kuna) into euros. However, he noted, it's currently difficult to estimate what the regular need for these euro coins will be over the coming years.

Estimates are currently being made of what the needs will be for next year. "We're entering a large market as a small country. Each country has different experiences. We hope that there will be some kind of need that will make it possible to finance the continued life of this factory", said Damir Bolta, President of the Management Board of the Croatian Mint.

In addition to money for circulation, numismatic coins, silver coins and gold coins are also produced in the mint on modern machines and tools. The latest Hum gold coin has attracted special attention from the public. Much like the Istrian destination after which it is named (the smallest city in the world) the coin is the smallest coin in the world, measuring even two millimetres in diameter.

"It was a challenge for us to show, in addition to making euro coins, that we're capable of doing something more in other areas as well. So the idea was, why don't we make the smallest coin, and so it was made. A happy solution for the motif is Hum in Istria, which has the status of the smallest city in the world," said Bolta.

The Croatian Mint has entered the narrow European circle of only seventeen accredited institutions for the production of euro coins, so it's possible that in the future it will apply for tenders to create coins announced by other member states of the European Union,'' it was explained on HTV.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated news section.

January the 6th, 2023 - Euro Croatia is now finally here after a very long wait to introduce the nation's brand new currency - the currency used throughout the majority of the European Union (EU). There have been a few growing pains and concerns being aired as the country sends the kuna to the history books, and now we need to tackle the issue of fraudulent euro banknotes.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as the now Schengen and Euro Croatia gets used to its new monetary reality, it's time for people and businesses alike to be aware of the new dangers - the circulation of fake euro bankotes. The police have issued multiple warnings that in recent days they have received more reports that fraudsters are using movie props of banknotes in this new Croatian currency instead of original euros for payment.

In this sense, the Brod-Posavina County police have cited several cases in which fraudsters used said fake euro banknotes, on which was written: "Souvenir production", i.e. "This is not legal, it is to be used for motion props" .

To make it easier for people to verify the authenticity of these potentially fake euro banknotes, the Croatian National Bank (CNB) recommends four steps - feel, look, move, check.

People have been instruced to take a second or two to really feel the texture and relief of the banknotes in their hands, to look at it in the light (as would often be done in stores when handing money to the cashier) and checking whether or not they have a watermark and a protective thread on them, as well as a transparent number and a window with a portrait.

To verify their authenticity, people can tilt the euro banknote and check the hologram, the colour-changing number, the shiny strip and the portrait window.

There is also micro writing on euro banknotes that can be checked using a magnifying glas if you really want to go that far with your investigationsd, and additional features can be checked using a UV lamp. The police will likely continue to rehash these warnings as we go forward, and an instruction video on how to check your notes has been published on the Croatian National Bank's website.

For more, check out our dedicated news section.

December the 31st, 2022 - The Croatian kuna is set to enter the history books tomorrow, after being in use since May 1994 in its modern (current) form. As we prepare to bid farewell to the Croatian national currency, let's look back on its history.

Subdivided into those irritating little lipa coins, 100 of them to be exact, the Croatian kuna (coded as HRK) is minted at the Croatian mint and sent out into the country by the Croatian National Bank (CNB). The design of the Croatian kuna banknotes were by Vilko Ziljak and Miroslav Sutej, and the first series of these banknotes were dated on October the 31st, 1993. There was once even a five kuna note, which has been withdrawn since 2007.

Meaning marten (a mink type creature), the kuna's roots go back to the exchanging of marten pelts (furs, skins) back in medieval times as a form of payment for goods and services. Lipa, those small silver and golden coins which end up in everyone's back pockets and left on cafe tables because nobody really knows what to do with them, draw their name from the linden tree. These trees were planted in and around Croatian market places during the early modern period.

A brief look into the deeper history of the kuna reveals the importance of martens and their pelts back during, you guessed it, Roman times, where these pelts were collected as a form of tax. These pelts were sought after and carried a very high value, and the Croatian word, marturina, comes from precisely this. Foreign currencies and means of trade and payment were in use across Croatia for many years, but by the time 1939 rolled around, the Banovina of Croatia planned to introduce its own currency alongside Yugoslavia's dinar. A couple of years later in 1941, under Ustasa rule as the Independent State of Croatia, the Croatian kuna was born, then called the Independent State of Croatia kuna. This was the means of payment in Croatia until 1945, when it was replaced with the dinar.

Fast forward to the turbulent 1990s, Croatia was engulfed in the strife of the breakup of the well and truly failed experiment of Yugoslavia and the Croatian War of Independence broke out (Homeland War/Domovinski rat). Back then, the Croatian dinar, a somewhat short-lived currency was in circulation here, introduced in 1991 and lasting only until the final month of 1994. Then came the Croatian kuna as we know it, tied to the German mark from the very beginning.

Of course, there were those who weren't fans of calling it the Croatian kuna because the name was coined (no pun intended) by the Independent State of Croatia and was in circulation during 1941-1945, a time many people preferred to try and forget. Other names were suggested as a result, including the banica (the wife of the viceroy) and the kruna (crown). The idea that the kuna would echo back to Ustasa rule and as such be a controversial name was dismissed, and the Croatian kuna remained with its rightful title. 

The CNB's policy was keeping the Croatian kuna's fluctuations with the bloc's single currency stable, as the initial expectations for Croatia adopting the euro officially, which was four years after joining the EU in July 2013, didn't come to fruition.

Croatia adopted the Croatian kuna as we know it today in May 1994, and it has remained in circulation ever since. It will continue being permitted as legal tender until mid January, 2023, but it is officially being scrapped tomorrow, on the 1st of January, 2023, making way for the euro as the country's new currency. Croatia fulfilled all of the many requirements for Eurozone entry this year, being given the green light not only for Eurozone accession but also for Schengen entry. No country has ever managed to enter both at the same time, on the very same day.

For some, the loss of the Croatian kuna marks a loss of identity and hard-won monetary independence, and for others, the introduction of the euro means more financial and economic stability, less people who have taken out loans being victims of exchange rate fluctuations, and more protection during crises. Whichever camp you fall into, Croatia abandoning the kuna for the euro is certainly an enormous moment in history for the little country that not only could, but consistently has, in the face of whatever has been thrown at it.

For more, check out our politics section.

December 15, 2022 - Croatia, one of the countries with the most widely developed ATM network, is gradually adapting to a new currency due to the introduction of the euro on the first day of the next year. The arrival of the euro in Croatia is affecting the ways in which cash will be available in the transition period.

As N1 writes, ATMs of commercial banks are the most important channel for the supply of cash in kuna in the Republic of Croatia and will also be the key channel for the supply of citizens with euro banknotes.

They should be adapted so that from January 1, 2023, they pay out exclusively in euros, while banks are obliged to ensure adequate availability of the Croatian kuna covering all of the ATM network until December 31, 2022.

ATMs are being gradually temporarily shut down during December and early January to allow the banks to adjust their ATM network for euro withdrawals by January 15, 2023.

In order for this adjustment process not to negatively affect the availability of cash in kuna in the period until the end of December 2022 or the availability of euro notes after January 1, 2023, in the period from December 15, 2022, to January 15, 2023, a few changes will be introduced to the ATM network in Croatia. The banks will temporarily abolish fees for cash withdrawal transactions with debit cards at ATMs outside the ATM network of a particular bank (at ATMs of other banks) in the Republic of Croatia.

Thus, from December 15 to 31, the Croatian kuna can be withdrawn free of charge at any ATM in Croatia, while from January 1 to 15, euros will be available for withdrawal from ATMs free of charge as well.

Considering the density of the network of ATMs in Croatia, it should provide citizens with a high degree of availability of cash in Croatian kuna until December 31, 2022, and cash in euros after the first day of the new year 2023.

The Croatian Bank Association has published an interactive map of all available ATMs during this period.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

November the 12th, 2022 - Croatian euro coins will be available for purchase as of the 1st of December, 2022, but won't be legal tender until the first day of 2023.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the production of Croatian euro coins in preparation for the country's entry into the Eurozone started this summer, and by the end of the year, all the quantities planned for this year will finally have been minted. These quantities will be used, among other things, for packaging in so-called initial packages of Croatian euro coins for both individuals and businesses to purchase.

People will be able to get their hands on these initial packages of brand new Croatian euro coins from banks, FINA and post offices from December the 1st this year, with the Croatian National Bank (CNB) also publishing a picture of that initial package.

The initial packages of Croatian euro coins for citizens will be packed in small plastic bags containing 33 euro coins worth 13.28 euros in total. People will be able to purchase a maximum of two bags per transaction, and a total of 1.2 million pieces will be made available for these needs.

What about ATMs?

With the introduction of the euro as Croatia's official currency scheduled for January the 1st next year, ATMs will allow people to withdraw 10 or 20 euro banknotes, and requested amounts such as 50 and 100 euros will be paid out in those same 10 and 20 euro banknotes, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) revealed.

From January the 1st next year, dual circulation of both kuna and euros will remain in effect for two weeks, during which time change from payments made in either euros or kuna when buying groceries in stores will be returned to customers solely in euros.

In the period from December the 15th to the 31st, 2022, free kuna withdrawals will be introduced at all and any ATMs across the country. This will be maintained until January the 15th, 2023, in order not to have a negative impact on the availability of cash in kuna, they stated from the Croatian National Bank.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday during the national parliament's Question Time that it was reasonable for Croatia that entered the EU in 2013 to switch to the euro nine and a half years after its admission to the Union.

"It seems a reasonable time frame to me for a country that joined the Union on 1 July 2013 to adopt the euro on 1 January 2023, that is nine and a half years," Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in response to the question from Marko Milanović Litre (Croatian Sovereignists) whether the citizens should be asked about the adoption of the euro and renunciation of monetary sovereignty.

"You are a new MP. Your predecessors in this same parliament ratified the EU Accession Treaty by 150 votes in favour. Your colleague, Ruža Tomašić, thanks to whom you are sitting here, was a member of the European Parliament in 2013. Your colleague Ilčić has rushed to the EP where he is paid in euro," Plenković said.

The PM said that the strategic goal of his government was to get Croatia into two deeper integrations - the Schengen passport-free travel zone and the euro area.

"We have made sure to fulfil the Maastricht criteria in the present circumstances of a pandemic, earthquakes and crises and have come close to adopting the euro, and now we listen to this initiative of yours. I don't know if we have all slept through this entire period," the prime minister said.

"Is there anyone who still thinks that EU membership is bad for us, after we have absorbed 44 billion more than we have contributed?" he concluded.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July the 26th, 2021 - As Croatia prepares to enter the Eurozone, which is something most have put to the very backs of their minds as the coronavirus pandemic has been in the forefront when compared to just about everything over the last eighteen months, many are unhappy with some Croatian exchange office rates.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, some Croatian exchange offices have been being met with unhappy customers following exchanges of euros for Croatian currency, and this practice is unfortunately somewhat common, especially in certain locations where more tourism occurs.

''The exchange rates are clearly displayed in Croatian exchange office windows, and we refund clients if they aren't satisfied after the transaction,'' they said from one Croatian exchange office.

''It's more than shameful to just steal from people like this,'' said one dissatisfied reader from Hvar. She went to an exchange office in Jelsa on the island to exchange 100 euros for the equivalent in kuna, and after she received the money and the bill, she was shocked by the poor exchange rate.

At the time of writing this article, the exchange rate of the euro against the kuna, as stated by the Croatian National Bank is 7.49, while the aforementioned reader of 24sata received a mere 607 kuna for her 100 euros.

Other people in Jelsa have also complained about the exchange rates, and a large number of them are branches of the same company.

''Exchange offices are private and can set the exchange rate as they want, but this is definitely a bad advertisement for Croatia,'' said another reader who had a similar situation much further north in the Istrian city of Rovinj.

''The company operates in accordance with the regulations of the Republic of Croatia. This practice is common across the world, especially when it comes to frequent locations with high rents,'' stated one Croatian exchange office, assuring that clients can be refunded if they aren't happy with the amount they get in exchange for euros.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.