On behalf of nowEurope I’d like to extend my congratulations to my Slovak colleagues who, as of January 1st are the first Central European country to adopt the currency of the European Union. The rest of the region, particularly Hungary, is still still a number years away from joining the Eurozone.
The news reports I’ve seen indicate that Slovakia’s currency transition has been successful. However, at least one news source seems to be confused about Slovakia’s actual location.
The European Voice reports that Slovakia’s transition to the Euro is proceeding smoothly: “According to the Commission, ‘all available data indicate that the changeover from the Slovak koruna went well’ …. Slovakia is the 16th country to join the single currency since its launch in 1999. Its entry into the eurozone means that, as of this morning, 328 million out of the EU’s population of 499m use the euro as their currency.”
Business Week notes that many Slovaks are expecting prices to rise with the adoption of the Euro, as has happened in other markets.
Three quarters of Slovaks are now using the Euro and six out of ten cash payments are already being made with the Euro. According to the Associated Press: “The Commission said euro325 million ($443 million) worth of exchanges were made to the new currency on Monday, which was the first day back from holidays for many workers. In total, between 1 and 6 January 2009, citizens made 100,000 more withdrawals from automated teller machines than in the equivalent period of 2008,” the Commission said.
In a bizarre note, however, the AP article refers to Slovakia as “the small alpine nation.” Could they possibly mean Slovenia?
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