Brussels, 06/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 1 January 2014, Latvia became the 18th member state to join the eurozone, following Estonia in 2011. The former currency, the lat, will remain in circulation for the first fortnight of 2014, at a fixed exchange rate of one euro to 0.702804 lat. After the first fortnight, the euro will be the country's only legal currency.
The European Commission says the switch has gone according to plan. Two-thirds of cash payments in shops were in euro on Saturday 4 January and change was given in euros in 95% of cases. More than two-thirds of residents interviewed said they were carrying euro notes and coins. The coins were provided at the end of December in the form of kits - some 584,000 euro kits had been sold as of 31 December, along with 70,000 starter kits. The supply of euro is smooth without any bottlenecks - automatic telling machines are working normally with the same number of withdrawals as before the changeover. Post offices opened during the holiday period to enable people to change money. The only problems reported are in remote rural areas where there are no banks or post offices and where shops are in effect changing money. In order to ensure that prices are being properly converted into euro using the official exchange rate, the Latvian consumer rights centre is carrying out daily spot checks in shops.
The president of the European Commission, José-Manuel Barroso, and Economic and Finance Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn will be Riga on Friday 10 January to attend the official launch of the euro in Latvia. (FG/transl.fl)