BNS: PM says Lithuania sticks to 2011 euro entry target
Updated 2008-09-26
VILNIUS, Sep 25, BNS - Despite the economic slowdown and high inflation, Lithuania has not abandoned its plans to adopt the euro in 2011, Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said on Thursday. "We remain committed to our plan to introduce the euro in 2011. There is political will and we believe that we can bring inflation under control. It is energy that poses the greatest challenge for us," Kirkilas told reporters after meeting with EU Commissioner Almunia in Vilnius.
He said that the planned closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in late 2009 could push up the country's annual inflation rate by three to four percentage points.
Almunia, the EU commissioner responsible for economic and monetary affairs, did not comment on Lithuania's aspirations to join the single currency in 2001, but said that he saw no possibilities for a further expansion of the eurozone in the next two years after Slovakia's accession in 2009.
Experts say that Lithuania is unlikely to adopt the single currency until 2012 or 2013, at the earliest.
The country wanted to introduce the euro from the beginning of 2007, but was refused entry on the grounds that its inflation rate was marginally above the Maastricht limit.
At present, 15 out of 27 EU states are in the eurozone.
