Prevzemanje evra v času visoke inflacije: primer Hrvaške

Introducing the Euro in Times of High Inflation: Case of Croatia

Croatia joined the euro on 1 January this year, thus becoming the 20th and newest member of the euro area. This is the first expansion since 2015, when Lithuania joined the euro. Before joining the euro, each country is required to meet certain economic criteria alongside ensuring the institutional independence of the central bank: a high level of price stability, healthy public finances, a stable exchange rate, and convergence of long-term interest rates. Croatia joined the euro in challenging circumstances, influenced by the Covid-19 crisis and the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, and the resulting high inflation.

Banka Slovenije is hosting Boris Vujčić, Governor of the Croatian National Bank, who will talk about the process of preparing Croatia for adopting the single European currency. The subjects he will touch on include:

• the euro adoption process: then and now,
• the challenges in the context of high inflation,
• the benefits of adopting the euro for a small EU Member State.

His lecture entitled Introducing the Euro in Times of High Inflation: Case of Croatia will be held on Thursday, 20 April 2023, between 2.30 and 3.30 pm.

The event will kick off with an introductory speech by Boštjan Vasle, Governor of Banka Slovenije. This will be followed by a talk given by Boris Vujčić, Governor of the Croatian National Bank.

The event will be held at Banka Slovenije's premises, with direct video broadcast available. The event is free, and will take place in English, with a Slovene translation available for the in-person attendees only. Online registration is open until 17 April 2023.

You are most welcome to join us!

Speaker's CV:

Boris Vujčić, Governor of the Croatian National Bank

Boris Vujčić holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zagreb. He has also received diplomas in Economics from Montpellier University (France) and was a pre-doctoral PhD Fulbright student at Michigan State University. He joined the Croatian National Bank in 1996 and was Director of the Research Department before becoming Deputy Governor in 2000, a position to which he was re-appointed in 2006.

In July 2012, Mr Vujčić became Governor of the Croatian National Bank for a six-year term of office and was re-appointed for another six-year term of office in July 2018. Mr Vujčić was a Deputy Chief Negotiator in the Republic of Croatia's negotiations with the European Union (2005-2012). He was also a member of the Global Development Network (GDN) board during the same period and a member of the Steering Committee of the ESRB in the period 2016-2019.

Mr Vujčić has been an associate professor at the Zagreb Faculty of Economics since 2003. At the Zagreb Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics, he has lectured as visiting professor since 2004. Mr Vujčić's fields of expertise and teaching include macro- and monetary economics, international finance, and labour economics. He is the author of numerous scholarly papers on economic issues.

He has been Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Vienna Initiative 2.0 since 2016 and a member of the General Council of the ECB and of the General Board of the ESRB since 2013. Since 1 January 2023, Governor Vujčić has been a member of the Governing Council of the ECB.

Mr Vujčić won recognition as the best governor in Central and Eastern Europe by Emerging Markets magazine in 2018 and as the best world governor by The Banker (Financial Times) in 2019. In 2021, he was awarded the Lamfalussy Award for lifetime achievement in the field of finance.