Miklos committed to the Maastricht Criteria

The adoption of the euro would boost economic growth by 1% a year, Slovakian finance minister Ivan Miklos announced at the Euromoney conference in Vienna. He stressed that the single currency would reduce transaction costs and risks for investors, thus stimulating the economic activity. He pointed out that the prudent policies demanded by Maastricht convergence criteria would also support economic development, supporting prudent macroeconomic policies. According to the minister, Slovakia would encounter most troubles with compliance with the inflation criteria, which should be within 1.5 percentage points of the average rate of the three EU countries with the lowest inflation rate. The Maastricht Criteria asks that inflation in Slovakia slow to around 2.5% a year by 2007, despite the expected impact of administrative price hikes and the high commodity prices on the external markets. On a positive note, Miklos played down concerns that the parliamentary elections in September this year might lead to a total reversal of the Maastricht-oriented reform policy of the current government. Public polls, however, show that the opposition party Smer, stated its intention to turn completely around the implemented reforms if in power, is most likely to win the elections.