By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
ZAGREB, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Croatia hopes to adopt the euro at the beginning of 2023 despite fiscal challenges that have arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating earthquakes that hit the country last year, central bank Deputy Governor Sandra Svaljek said on Thursday.
Croatia entered the European Exchange Mechanism (ERM-2) - the single currency waiting room - in July last year.
A country must spend at least two years in ERM-2 proving the stability of its currency and the resilience of the economy, including keeping the fiscal deficit below 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
“Meeting the fiscal target will be more challenging than it seemed before,” Svaljek said. “However, we are still quite optimistic and hope we will be able to join the euro zone by the beginning of 2023.”