23/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Addressing the press last Thursday in Nicosia, the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs declared that Cyprus was going in the right direction for EMU accession. Quoted by AFP, Joaquin Almunia, stated “we believe that the Cypriot economy is in a good position…but we are calling the Cypriot authorities to pay more attention to inflation rates”. According to the Maastricht criteria, inflation rates can not go above 1.5 points of the three Member States with the best scores. The rate forecast by the Cypriot government in 2005 was between 2.5% and 2.6%, which is “more or less within the limits”, stated Mr Almunia. The Cypriot currency is expected to evolve over a maximum of two years inside the European Exchange Rate II, in which it has been taking party since the beginning of May. (EUROPE 8940).