ZAGREB, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Croatia currently has fulfilled three out of the four economic criteria necessary for adopting the euro, according to the latest European Commission report published Wednesday.
According to the Convergence Report that examines whether EU member states meet the necessary conditions to adopt the single currency, Croatia is just one step behind. The country is fulfilling the criteria relating to price stability, public finances, and long-term interest rates.
The only requirement not yet fulfilled is the exchange rate criterion since Croatia still has not joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM 2).
Joining eurozone is one of the goals of the Croatian government. In October 2017, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said that the government planed to join ERM 2 in 2020. Once the southeastern country joins ERM 2, it takes at least two years to adopt the euro.
Euro is already very much present in Croatia. People save in euro, while house prices are expressed in euro. More than 500 billion kuna (78.2 billion U.S. dollars) are tied to euro, so the Croatian National Bank cannot conduct an active foreign exchange policy. The only thing that it can do is maintain the stability of the course.
While some people are afraid of the rise of prices once Croatia introduces euro, government officials and economic experts argue that the benefits of it would be much higher than the costs. They believe that joining the euro zone would lead to higher foreign investments and lower interest rates on loans for citizens.