Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Davor Filipovic said at the Euro Day event in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka on Saturday that the adoption of the euro would bring a lot of benefits and open up a lot of opportunities, adding that it was up to us to use those opportunities.

By adopting the euro as legal tender on 1 January 2023, Croatia will join an exclusive club of EU member states with 350 million people, Filipovic said.

Croatian citizens previously most often kept their savings in German marks and then in euros, and now they will be able to keep their savings in their own currency, without fearing that their money will lose its value, he said.

“There will be no exchange rate risk and interest costs will be lower than those in countries outside the eurozone. The adoption of the euro will also help tourism because many tourists will no longer have to exchange their money, and it will be easier for them to compare prices. Exporters will also have more benefits,” the minister said.

Filipovic said that his ministry was paying particular attention to consumer protection and ensuring that during the changeover to the euro traders converted prices fairly and that they were a reliable partner to consumers.

Asked about the record-high inflation of 12.8%, Filipovic said that Croatia did not stand out much from the ten member states with inflation rates exceeding 10%. He noted that the Netherlands and the three Baltic countries had inflation rates of above 20%.