Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković says the country’s strategic goal is to meet the criteria by the end of the next government’s term and adopt the euro as its official currency.

Plenković stressed that there are many economic benefits to the euro – the currency risk in the economy will be eliminated, the cost of borrowing will drop for all domestic sectors, and citizens and businesses will have lower financing costs than they would if Croatia stayed outside the euro area.

“The euro is the second-largest and strongest global currency used by more than 340 million people in the euro area,” the Croatian Prime Minister told B92.