With less than three weeks to go before the introduction of the euro in Slovakia, the country is well prepared to become the 16th member of the euro zone, the European Commission said in a report on Friday.
"I am looking forward to welcoming Slovakia in the euro area next January. The country has made noticeable progress in the last months to speed up the preparations, inform the public about the euro and reassure them that their concerns about price increases are taken seriously," Joaquin Almunia, European commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, said in a statement.
A total of 500 million euro coins have been produced by the national Mint of Kremnica, in central Slovakia. The banknotes were borrowed from the National Central Bank of Austria, in line with the used practice of the recent changeovers.
The National Bank of Slovakia began distributing the coins and banknotes to commercial banks in September 2008 and retailers and other businesses got their first deliveries at the beginning of November.
In total, some 13,330 businesses signed contracts with their bank for advance supplies of euro cash. Shops are expected to handle euros from Jan. 1 and to give change exclusively in the single currency to speed up the changeover and reduce the cost of having to handle two currencies simultaneously.
Keen to feel their first euros, Slovaks were quick to snap the 1.2 million coin mini-kits made available from the beginning of December.
A number of commercial banks in Slovakia have announced they will also provide for the exchange of the Slovak currency koruna against euro without fees in the last weeks of the year.
Furthermore, and as in previous changeovers, the banks plan for longer opening hours in the first days of January and some branches will open special counters for businesses and reinforce the staff in contact with public.
The Slovak also carried out an information campaign on the euro, which is bearing fruit. Around 80 percent of the citizens feel rather well or very well informed about the changeover, according to an EU survey carried out in November.
The commission proposed in May to accept Slovakia into the single currency club from the beginning of 2009.
EU leaders endorsed the proposal at their June summit after approval by the European Parliament, and EU finance minister set the exchange rate between the euro and koruna at 1:30.1260 in July.
Slovakia will be the 16th member of the euro zone following Malta and Cyprus, which adopted the euro this year.
It could be the last of the EU newcomers to join the euro zone by this decade since other eastern European countries remain short of meeting all the convergence criteria for adopting the euro.
Source:Xinhua
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