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Gov't-BNR Committee: Romania maintains 2015 eurozone accession goal

Romania maintains its goal to adopt the European single currency in 2015, is the conclusion emerged during the talks held on Monday at the meeting of the Inter-ministerial Committee in charge, chaired by Premier Emil Boc and governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Mugur Isarescu.

'We reviewed the situation in the euro area, as well as international economic developments, and Romania's goal remains the switch to the single European currency in 2015,' Minister of Administration and the Interior Traian Igas, who also participated in the meeting, told Agerpres.

According to sources close to the talks, National Bank and government officials stressed that Romania is capable to meet the Euro Plus Pact criteria limiting the budget deficit, public debt and inflation.President the Romanian Importers and Exporters Association (ANEIR) Mihai Ionescu said, after the meeting at the BNR headquarters, that Romania's exporters and importers want the transition to the euro to happen even earlier than 2015.

'To an extent of 70 pct, Romania's exports are linked to the European space and therefore, once Romania joins the eurozone, the country's importers and exporters would get rid of the currency stress,' Ionescu argued.

The ANEIR president also said that the experience of other states that joined before shows that once Romania adopts the euro, the volume of trade exchanges with the other countries in the eurozone would grow by 50 pct.Ionescu added that as a eurozone member, Romania would immediately receive assistance from other member states in case it faced difficulty.

In this context, the cited official highlighted that Romania meets at this moment the requirement of a public debt below 60 pct of GDP, which is a prerequisite for joining the euro area, and that next year it will also fulfil the other two main criteria: a low inflation rate and a budget deficit below 3 pct of GDP.

The government later confirmed in a press release that the target of joining the eurozone in 2015 is maintained, stressing that the adoption of the euro depends on the consistency of the internal macroeconomic policies.

'It was reiterated that we maintain the target of joining the euro in 2015, highlighting the fact that it has a harmonizing and disciplining effect on macroeconomic policies and the fulfilment of the criteria for the adoption of the euro is an essential evaluation indicator not only for the European Commission, but for international markets as well. In this sense, the moment of the euro's adoption depends on European and global developments, which calls for the prompt implementation of consistent domestic macroeconomic policies and structural reforms,' reads the government release.

Talks at the meeting at the BNR headquarters focused on the progress in the fulfilment of the nominal convergence criteria in the context of the recent economic developments in the eurozone, the statement also reads.

'The capability of the European Financial Stability Facility to provide macroeconomic stability to the European Union was analysed and the recent measures adopted by the European Council were presented,' informs the cited source.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: euro european eurozone romania bnr

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