May 11 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government said it has adopted a strategy for introduction of the euro and has established a national council to lead the process.
Upon entering the European Union in 2013, Croatia committed to becoming a member of the eurozone, the government recalled in a statement following its session on Thursday.
"There is no target date for the introduction of the euro, it depends on Croatia's progress. It is a medium-term project, probably for a period of five to seven years," economy minister, Martina Dalic, said in the statement.
"Croatia is a very good candidate, economically, for the introduction of the euro as its national currency, given the structure of our economy, the alignment of the business cycle with the euro area, and the fact that the euro is already dominant in the structure of our monetary system," Dalic added.
She explained that while Croatia already is meeting the nominal eurozone convergence criteria such as the level of fiscal deficit, public debt, inflation and interest rates, the country will need to work towards bringing its average income in line with that of the eurozone, if it is to meet the real convergence criteria.