query: which country uses euro as its main currency?

title: Euro Currency Index

text: summer of 2007, the index began to decline. On 6 February 2009 a value of 187.84 points was determined. In the following eight months, the European single currency rebounded from the lows. On 13 October 2009, the index rose by 208.45 points, near its historical high point. A financial crisis in several member states of the Euro zone in 2010 led to the outbreak of the Euro crisis. Particularly affected is Greece (see Greek government-debt crisis from 2010), but also other countries such as Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal. The weakness of the Euro against almost all global currencies caused

title: Mark (currency)

text: Germany was reunified in 1990. The German mark was replaced by the euro, first as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, at a conversion rate of 1.95583 marks per euro. Thereafter, the mark-denominated notes and coins represented the euro at that conversion rate, and remained legal tender until 1 January 2002, when they were replaced by euro notes and coins. Germany mints its own German euro coins, but all euro coins are legal tender throughout the Eurozone. The remaining Convertible mark of Bosnia-Herzegovina is a currency that officially replaced the German mark as de facto currency of the ruptured

title: 20 euro cent coin

text: denomination of the coin from its design, Greece is exempt from this requirement as it uses a non-Latin alphabet. In addition, there are several EU states that have not yet adopted the euro. While some of them have already agreed upon their coin designs, these are not yet minted as it is not known exactly when they will adopt the currency. See enlargement of the Eurozone for expected entry dates of these countries. 20 euro cent coin The 20 euro cent coin (€0.20) has a value of one fifth of a euro and is composed of an alloy called nordic

title: Andorra and the euro

text: Andorra and the euro Andorra has a monetary agreement with the EU allowing it to make the euro its official currency, and permitting it to issue euro coins from 1 July 2013. They planned to issue their first coins by March or April 2014. On 23 December coins were delivered for pre-booked customers at the Government Administration Building, and actual circulation began on 15 January 2015. Andorra did not have an official currency before adopting the euro, and unlike its two larger neighbours, France and Spain, which surround it, it is not a member of the EU. However it "de

title: International status and usage of the euro

text: considering making the euro a third official currency of the country to go along with the US dollar and the Balboa. In various countries the euro is accepted by some merchants albeit not being official currency there. Additionally sometimes it is used for pricing purposes even if the actual payments are made in the official currency (e.g., for real estate). The Swedish town of Höganäs has, since 1 January 2009, generally allowed shop payments in euros alongside the Swedish krona. Widespread usage, though unofficial, is also present in towns such as Haparanda, on the border with Finland. The euro is

title: Euro starter kits

text: were sold. Despite not being a member of the European Union, in 1999 Monaco also adopted the euro. This is mainly because Monaco never had its own currency and was using the French one, so when France switched to the euro Monaco had no option but to follow suit. The European Union has a special agreement with Monaco that allows this country to mint a limited number of euro coins. Late in 2001, Monaco issued 51,200 starter kits for the nominal price of €15,25 (100 francs) each; however, today their price on commercial websites is more than €600. The Netherlands

title: Euro

text: belong to the EU have currencies that are directly pegged to the euro including 14 countries in mainland Africa (CFA franc), two African island countries (Comorian franc and Cape Verdean escudo), three French Pacific territories (CFP franc) and three Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark), Bulgaria (Bulgarian lev) and Macedonia (Macedonian denar). On 28 July 2009, São Tomé and Príncipe signed an agreement with Portugal which will eventually tie its currency to the euro. Additionally, the Moroccan dirham is tied to a basket of currencies, including the euro and the US dollar, with the euro given

title: Euro Currency Index

text: Euro Currency Index The Euro Currency Index (EUR_I) represents the arithmetic ratio of four major currencies against the Euro: US-Dollar, British Pound, Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc. All currencies are expressed in units of currency per Euro. The index was launched in 2004 by the exchange portal Stooq.com. Underlying are 100 points on 4 January 1971. Before the introduction of the European single currency on 1 January 1999 an exchange rate of 1 Euro = 1.95583 Deutsche mark was calculated. Based on the progression, Euro Currency Index can show the strength or weakness of the Euro. A rising index indicates

title: Euro Currency Index

text: table shows the annual high, low and closing levels of the back-calculated Euro Currency Index from 1971 until 2012. ¹ 31. December 2012 Euro Currency Index The Euro Currency Index (EUR_I) represents the arithmetic ratio of four major currencies against the Euro: US-Dollar, British Pound, Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc. All currencies are expressed in units of currency per Euro. The index was launched in 2004 by the exchange portal Stooq.com. Underlying are 100 points on 4 January 1971. Before the introduction of the European single currency on 1 January 1999 an exchange rate of 1 Euro = 1.95583 Deutsche

title: Euro Currency Index

text: Euro Currency Index, since the competitiveness of European goods in comparison to other countries and trading partners is included in it. On September 13, 2005 Dow Jones & Company published two versions of the index, the Dow Jones Euro Currency Index (DJEURO) and the Dow Jones Euro Currency 5 Index (DJEURO5). Under-lyings of each were 100 points on 31 December 1998. The calculation of the Dow Jones Euro Currency 5 Index was set on 29 August 2008 (last value 121.97 points) and the calculation of the Dow Jones Euro Currency Index on 9 January 2009 (last value 119.41 points). The

title: Euro Currency Index

text: points). The Euro Currency Index started on 4 January 1971 with 100 points. Before the introduction of the European single currency on 1 January 1999, an exchange rate of 1 Euro = 1.95583 Deutsche Mark was calculated. On April 19, 1971, the Euro Currency Index gained 99.67 points calculated with an all-time low. Until 3 December 1979, the index rose by 68.0 percent to 167.43 points. With the depreciation of the Deutsche Mark against the major currencies, the index fell to mid-1980s. On 3 May 1985, the Euro Currency Index was at level 122.26 points, up by 27.0 percent. The

title: Euro Currency Index

text: an appreciation of the Euro against the currencies in the currency basket, a falling index in contrast, a devaluation. Relationships to commodity indices are recognizable. A rising Euro Currency Index means a tendency of falling commodity prices. This is especially true for agricultural commodities and the price of oil. Even the prices of precious metals (gold and silver) are correlated with the index. Arithmetically weighted Euro Currency Index is comparable to the trade-weighted Euro Effective exchange rate index of the European Central Bank (ECB). The index of ECB measures much more accurately the value of the Euro, compared to the

title: De facto currency

text: De facto currency A de facto currency is a unit of money that is not legal tender in a country but is treated as such by most of the populace. The United States dollar and the European Union euro are the most common de facto currencies. Andorra used the euro unofficially prior to June 2013, at which point the euro became its official currency. The euro remains the de facto currency in Kosovo and Montenegro. Countries using the United States dollar as their de facto currency include Aruba and Cambodia, where most hotels, restaurants, and transportation are priced in dollars;

title: Euro Currency Index

text: the index to fall from 29 June 2010 to 175.31 points. In the following months, the European Stability Mechanism was developed, which provides for mutual assistance in case of emergency to avoid the bankruptcy of the Member States. By May 4, 2011, the index rose to a level of 200.20 points. With the intensification of the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro zone, the Euro Currency Index fell 24 July 2012 with 168.38 points, its lowest level since March 29, 2006. Compared to the all-time high of 29 December 2008, this represents a decrease of 19.7 percent . The below

title: Poland and the euro

text: Poland and the euro Poland does not use the euro as its currency. However, under the terms of their Treaty of Accession with the European Union, all new Member States "shall participate in the Economic and Monetary Union from the date of accession as a Member State with a derogation", which means that Poland is obliged to eventually replace its currency, the złoty, with the euro. There is no target date for Polish euro adoption, and no fixed date for when the country will join ERM-II (the fifth euro convergence criterion). The country's former Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechociński has

title: Sweden and the euro

text: main aim for this is to protect Swedish banks against being “too big to fail”. Sweden's Financial Markets Minister Per Bolund has said that the country is conducting a study on joining, which is planned to be completed by 2019. The only disadvantage is that Sweden would be a member, not have any voting rights as it is not a member of the euro. Sweden and the euro Sweden does not currently use the euro as its currency and has no plans to replace the krona in the near future. Sweden's Treaty of Accession of 1994 made it subject to

title: Romania and the euro

text: law requires that the coat of arms of the country be used on coin designs. In Romanian, the currency is called "euro" , and its subunit "eurocent" . Romania and the euro Romania is required by its EU accession agreement to replace the current national currency, the Romanian leu, with the euro, as soon as Romania fulfills all of the six nominal euro convergence criteria. The leu is not yet part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), of which minimum two years of stable membership is one of the six nominal convergence criteria to comply with to qualify

title: Croatia and the euro

text: Croatia and the euro Croatia's currency, the kuna, has used the euro (and prior to that one of the euro's major predecessors, the German mark or Deutschmark) as its main reference since its creation in 1994, and a long-held policy of the Croatian National Bank has been to keep the kuna's exchange rate with the euro within a relatively stable range. Croatia's EU membership obliges it to eventually join the eurozone, as such the country plans to join the European Monetary System, the pathway to euro adoption. Prior to Croatian entry to the EU on 1 July 2013, Boris Vujčić,

title: Euro Currency Index

text: Euro Currency Index (ECX, also EURX or EXY) was launched on 13 January 2006 by the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) and calculated back to 2001. In 2007, the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) based in Atlanta (USA) changed the name of the stock exchange in IntercontinentalExchange The index was a ratio that compared the value of the Euro by a currency basket of five currencies: US-Dollar (31.55 percent), British Pound (30.56 percent), Japanese Yen (18.91 percent), Swiss Franc (11.13 percent) and Swedish Krona (7.85 percent). The ECX was the geometrically weighted average compared to these currencies. The formula for the calculation

title: Currency board

text: Currency board A currency board is a monetary authority which is required to maintain a fixed exchange rate with a foreign currency. This policy objective requires the conventional objectives of a central bank to be subordinated to the exchange rate target. The main qualities of an orthodox currency board are: The currency board in question will no longer issue fiat money but instead will only issue one unit of local currency for each unit (or decided amount) of foreign currency it has in its vault (often a hard currency such as the U.S. dollar or the euro). The surplus on

title: Denmark and the euro

text: Denmark and the euro Denmark uses the krone as its currency and does not use the euro, having negotiated the right to opt-out from participation under the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. In 2000, the government held a referendum on introducing the euro, which was defeated with 46.8% voting yes and 53.2% voting no. The Danish krone is part of the ERM II mechanism, so its exchange rate is tied to within 2.25% of the euro. Most of the large political parties in Denmark favour the introduction of the euro and the idea of a second referendum has been suggested several

title: Language and the euro

text: European currency. Of other national Slavic languages using the Cyrillic alphabet, Macedonian, Russian and Serbian also use the spelling евро. Ukrainian uses євро and Belarusian uses еўра/эўра. In Catalan the official plural is the same as its regular plural "euros". The standard pronunciation of "euro" is . For the cent, the word "cèntim" (, plural "cèntims") is used, since historically this term has been used as the hundredth part of a currency unit. The fraction of the peseta was also called "cèntim", but it was withdrawn from circulation decades ago. In the Cornish language, euro is written "ewro" (like "Ewrop"

title: Denmark and the euro

text: and 20-krone coins, with Queen Margrethe II on the front, and the 25- and 50-øre coins, switching their back motif (a crown) to the front of the euro coins. Denmark and the euro Denmark uses the krone as its currency and does not use the euro, having negotiated the right to opt-out from participation under the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. In 2000, the government held a referendum on introducing the euro, which was defeated with 46.8% voting yes and 53.2% voting no. The Danish krone is part of the ERM II mechanism, so its exchange rate is tied to within

title: Euro coins

text: Euro coins There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different designs in circulation at once. Four European microstates which use the euro as their currency also have the right to mint coins with their own designs on the obverse side. The coins, and various commemorative coins,

title: Euro

text: the highest weighting. With the exception of Bosnia, Bulgaria, Macedonia (which had pegged their currencies against the Deutsche Mark) and Cape Verde (formerly pegged to the Portuguese escudo), all of these non-EU countries had a currency peg to the French Franc before pegging their currencies to the euro. Pegging a country's currency to a major currency is regarded as a safety measure, especially for currencies of areas with weak economies, as the euro is seen as a stable currency, prevents runaway inflation and encourages foreign investment due to its stability. Within the EU several currencies are pegged to the euro,

title: Bulgaria and the euro

text: Bulgaria and the euro Bulgaria committed to switching its currency, the lev, to the euro upon its joining the European Union in 2007, as stated in its EU accession treaty. The transition will occur once the country meets all the euro convergence criteria; it currently meets three of the five criteria, the exception being its membership for at least two years of the EU's official exchange rate mechanism (ERM II), which it has not yet joined despite the Bulgarian lev having been pegged to the euro since its introduction in 1999. In 2011 Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov stated

text: merely limiting its highest value and not its lowest. The Bulgarian lev is pegged to the euro through a currency board. As part of ERM II, the currencies have a fluctuation band of ±15%. Denmark, however, has committed to a tighter fluctuation band of 2.25%. Convertible mark is the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was fixed to 1 German mark when it was introduced on the basis of the Dayton agreement; consequently after introduction of the euro, the Convertible mark uses the German-mark-to-euro rate at 1.95583 BAM per euro. Since 2005, stamps issued by the Sovereign Military Order

title: Euro

text: currency in Cuba since 1998, and Syria since 2006. There are also various currencies pegged to the euro (see below). In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency and used major currencies instead, including the euro and the United States dollar. Since its introduction, the euro has been the second most widely held international reserve currency after the U.S. dollar. The share of the euro as a reserve currency increased from 18% in 1999 to 27% in 2008. Over this period, the share held in U.S. dollar fell from 71% to 64% and that held in Yen fell from 6.4% to

title: Euro

text: negative current account balance can be financed without a problem as long as credit is cheap. The need to finance trade deficit weakens currency making exports automatically more attractive in a country and abroad. A country in a monetary union cannot use weakening of currency to recover its international competitiveness. To achieve this a country has to reduce prices, including wages (deflation). This means years of high unemployment and lower incomes as it was during European sovereign-debt crisis. A 2009 consensus from the studies of the introduction of the euro concluded that it has increased trade within the eurozone by

text: those in the eurozone, do not participate in the European Central Bank or the Euro Group. Its international usage has also grown as a trading currency, acting as an economic or political alternative to using the United States dollar. Its increasing usage in this sense has led to its becoming the only significant challenger to the US dollar as the world's main reserve currency. Several European microstates outside the EU have adopted the euro as their currency. For EU sanctioning of this adoption, a monetary agreement must be concluded. Prior to the launch of the euro, agreements were reached with

text: becomes a new reserve currency, Eurozone governments will enjoy substantial benefits. Since money is an interest-free loan to the issuing government by the holder of the currency, foreign reserves act as a subsidy to the country minting the currency (see seigniorage). However, reserve status also holds risks, as the currency may become overvalued, hurting European exporters and potentially exposing the European economy to influence by external factors who hold large quantities of euros. International status and usage of the euro The international status and usage of the euro has grown since its launch in 1999. When the euro formally replaced

title: Currency pair

text: euro has strengthened, or both. On the other hand, if the EUR/USD (or EURUSD) quote changes from 1.2500 to 1.2490 the euro has become relatively weaker than the dollar. The rules for formulating standard currency pair notations result from accepted priorities attributed to each currency. From its inception in 1999 and as stipulated by the European Central Bank, the euro has first precedence as a base currency. Therefore, all currency pairs involving it should use it as their base, listed first. For example, the US dollar and euro exchange rate is identified as EUR/USD. Although there is no standards-setting body

title: Optimum currency area

text: rationale behind the creation of the euro is that the individual countries of Europe do not each form an optimal currency area, but that Europe as a whole does. The creation of the euro is often cited because it provides the most modern and largest-scale case study of an attempt to identify an optimum currency area, and provides a comparative before-and-after model by which to test the principles of the theory. In theory, an optimal currency area could also be smaller than a country. Some economists have argued that the United States, for example, has some regions that do not

title: Denomination (currency)

text: as Polish złoty (“golden”) and Vietnamese đồng (“copper”), or its geographical origin, e.g. Joachimsthaler (see Dollar). Denomination (currency) Denomination is a proper description of a currency amount, usually for coins or banknotes. Denominations may also be used with other means of payment like gift cards. For example, "five euros" is the denomination of a five euro note. In a currency, there is usually a main unit (base), and a subunit that is a fraction of the main unit. In some countries, there are multiple levels of subunits. In the former Ottoman Empire, 1 lira = 100 kuruş = 4000 para

title: Euro convergence criteria

text: its highly unlikely any of them will ask the European Commission to conduct an extraordinary compliance check ahead of the publication of the next regular convergence report (scheduled for release in May/June 2016). Euro convergence criteria The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the euro as their currency. The four main criteria, which actually comprise five criteria as the "fiscal criterion" consists of both a "debt criterion" and a "deficit criterion",

title: Latvian euro coins

text: minted in Stuttgart except the 1 cent, 10 cent and 1 euro coins, which were minted in Karlsruhe. The production of Latvian euros began in July 2013. Latvian euro coins Latvia replaced its previous currency, the lats, with the euro on 1 January 2014, after a European Union (EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all convergence criteria necessary for euro adoption. The adoption process began 1 May 2004, when Latvia joined the European Union, entering the EU's Economic and Monetary Union. At the start of 2005, the lats was pegged to the euro at Ls

title: Euro

text: Euro The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 of member states of the European Union, as well as some of the territories of the EU. This group of states is known as the eurozone or euro area. It is the second largest and second most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar. The euro is subdivided into 100 cents. The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and its territories, four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used

title: European Currency Unit

text: opportunity for foreign diversification without reliance on the currency of a single country. The ECU was conceived on 13 March 1979 as an internal accounting unit. It had the ISO 4217 currency code XEU. On 1 January 1999, the euro (with the code EUR and symbol €) replaced the ECU, at the value €1 = 1 ECU. Unlike the ECU, the euro is a real currency, although not all member states participate (for details on euro membership see Eurozone). Two of the countries in the ECU basket of currencies, UK and Denmark, did not join the eurozone, and a third,

text: term of 2007, euro as a reserve currency had reached a record level of 25.6% (a +0.8% increase from the year before) – at the expense of the US dollar, which dropped to 64.8% (a drop of 1.3% from the year before). By the end of 2007, shares of euro increased to 26.4% as the dollar slumped to its lowest level since records began in 1999, 63.8%. The exact situation varies from country to country; for example, those with dollar pegs have greater dollar reserves and those with euro pegs have greater euro reserves. In 2009, Russia's foreign reserves in

title: Currency symbol

text: Currency symbol A currency symbol is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currency's name, especially in reference to amounts of money. Although several former currency symbols were rendered obsolete by the adoption of the euro, having a new and unique currency symbol implementation of which requires the adoption of new Unicode and type formats has now become a status symbol for international currencies. The European Commission considers the global recognition of the euro sign part of its success. In 2009, India launched a public competition to replace the ₨ ligature it shared with neighbouring countries. It finalised

title: Euro

text: of the implications of the Mundell–Fleming model, which implies a central bank cannot (without capital controls) maintain interest rate and exchange rate targets simultaneously, because increasing the money supply results in a depreciation of the currency. In the years following the Single European Act, the EU has liberalised its capital markets and, as the ECB has inflation targeting as its monetary policy, the exchange-rate regime of the euro is floating. The euro is the second-most widely held reserve currency after the U.S. dollar. After its introduction on 4 January 1999 its exchange rate against the other major currencies fell reaching

title: Currency

text: currency for each note of a foreign government held, as Ecuador currently does. Each currency typically has a main currency unit (the dollar, for example, or the euro) and a fractional unit, often defined as of the main unit: 100 cents = 1 dollar, 100 centimes = 1 franc, 100 pence = 1 pound, although units of or occasionally also occur. Some currencies do not have any smaller units at all, such as the Icelandic króna. Mauritania and Madagascar are the only remaining countries that do not use the decimal system; instead, the Mauritanian ouguiya is in theory divided into

title: Currency

text: Several countries can use the same name for their own separate currencies (for example, "dollar" in Australia, Canada and the United States). By contrast, several countries can also use the same currency (for example, the euro or the CFA franc), or one country can declare the currency of another country to be legal tender. For example, Panama and El Salvador have declared US currency to be legal tender, and from 1791 to 1857, Spanish silver coins were legal tender in the United States. At various times countries have either re-stamped foreign coins, or used currency board issuing one note of

title: Reserve currency

text: before the beginning of the worldwide credit crunch related recession and Eurozone crisis, which harmed the euro and slowed its adoption. Since 2009, the reserve currency use of the euro has continued to drop, down to 23.9 percent in 2013. The Dutch guilder was the "de facto" reserve currency in Europe in 17th and 18th centuries. The United Kingdom's pound sterling was the primary reserve currency of much of the world in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The emergence of the USA as an economic superpower, and the establishment of the U.S. Federal Reserve System

title: Euro

text: in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.83 within two years (26 October 2000), it has traded above the U.S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008. In late 2009, the

title: Currency board

text: the Deutsche Mark from 1992 to 1999 when it switched to fixing to the Euro at par. The peg to the Euro was upheld until January 2011 with Estonia's adoption of the Euro. This policy is seen as a mainstay of that country's subsequent economic success (see Economy of Estonia for a detailed description of the Estonian currency board). Argentina abandoned its currency board in January 2002 after a severe recession. To some, this emphasised the fact that currency boards are not irrevocable, and hence may be abandoned in the face of speculation by foreign exchange traders. However, Argentina's system

title: Currency pair

text: a dot or a dash. A widely traded currency pair is the relation of the euro against the US dollar, designated as EUR/USD. The quotation "EUR/USD 1.2500" means that one euro is exchanged for 1.2500 US dollars. Here, EUR is the base currency and USD is the quote currency(counter currency). This means that 1 Euro can be exchangeable to 1.25 US Dollars. The most traded currency pairs in the world are called the "Majors". They involve the currencies euro, US dollar, Japanese yen, pound sterling, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, and the Swiss franc. Currency quotations use the abbreviations for currencies

title: Mark (currency)

text: and could be transferred by endorsement, and were accepted as payment. They could also be redeemed. This currency proved to be very stable. Following German unification in 1871, the country adopted the German gold mark (officially known just as the "mark") as its currency in 1873. The name was taken from the mark banco. Initially, the coins and banknotes of the various predecessor currencies, such as the , the , and the guilder, continued to circulate, and were treated as fixed multiples of the new unit of account, similarly to the introduction period of the euro between 1999 and 2002.

title: Montenegro and the euro

text: government of Montenegro will adopt some certain elements which should fulfil the conditions for further use of the euro, such as adopting fiscal rules." Unlike official members of the eurozone, Montenegro does not mint coins and therefore has no distinctive national design. Montenegro and the euro Montenegro has no currency of its own. From 1996 the Deutsche Mark was the "de facto" currency in all private and banking transactions and it was formally adopted as Montenegro's currency in November 1999. The mark was replaced by the euro in 2002 without any objections from the European Central Bank (ECB). The European

text: of Malta have been denominated in euros, although the Order's official currency remains the Maltese scudo. The Maltese scudo itself is pegged to the euro and is only recognised as legal tender within the Order. The euro is a major global reserve currency, sharing that status with the US dollar (USD), which continues to be the primary reserve of most commercial and central banks. Since its introduction, the euro has been the second most widely held international reserve currency after the US dollar. The euro inherited this status from the German mark, and since its introduction, it has increased its

title: World currency

text: Currency). Some of the world's currencies are still pegged to the dollar. Some countries, such as Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama, have gone even further and eliminated their own currency (see dollarization) in favor of the United States dollar. Only two serious challengers to the status of the United States dollar as a world currency have arisen. During the 1980s, the Japanese yen became increasingly used as an international currency, but that usage diminished with the Japanese recession in the 1990s. More recently, the euro has increasingly competed with the United States dollar in international finance. The euro inherited its

title: Euro

text: 3.3%. The euro inherited and built on the status of the Deutsche Mark as the second most important reserve currency. The euro remains underweight as a reserve currency in advanced economies while overweight in emerging and developing economies: according to the International Monetary Fund the total of euro held as a reserve in the world at the end of 2008 was equal to $1.1 trillion or €850 billion, with a share of 22% of all currency reserves in advanced economies, but a total of 31% of all currency reserves in emerging and developing economies. The possibility of the euro becoming

title: Mill (currency)

text: not necessary. Maltese lira coinage included 2 mil, 3 mil, and 5 mil coins from 1972 to 1994, with 10 mils being equal to one cent. Prices could still be marked using mils until the country switched to the euro in 2008, however these were then rounded up for accounting purposes. The short-lived and unrecognized Republic of Rose Island (a micronation off the Italian coast) had the mill as its official currency ("milo" in the official language Esperanto). The Palestine pound, used as the currency of the British Mandate for Palestine from 1927 to 1948, was divided into 1,000 mils.

title: Euro

text: national currencies had to be carried out using the process of triangulation via the euro. The "definitive" values of one euro in terms of the exchange rates at which the currency entered the euro are shown on the right. The rates were determined by the Council of the European Union, based on a recommendation from the European Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998. They were set so that one European Currency Unit (ECU) would equal one euro. The European Currency Unit was an accounting unit used by the EU, based on the currencies of the member

title: Euro

text: daily by some 343 million Europeans . Outside Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally, 240 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro. The euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. , with more than €1.2 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar. The name "euro" was officially adopted on 16 December 1995

title: Czech Republic and the euro

text: Czech Republic and the euro The Czech Republic is bound to adopt the euro in the future and to join the eurozone once it has satisfied the euro convergence criteria by the Treaty of Accession since it joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. The Czech Republic is therefore a candidate for the enlargement of the eurozone and it uses the Czech koruna as its currency, regulated by the Czech National Bank, a member of the European System of Central Banks, and does not participate in European Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II). Although the Czech Republic is economically well

title: Bulgaria and the euro

text: a stable ERM-II member for a minimum of two years. While Bulgaria has not formally joined the exchange rate mechanism, the ±15% floating band permitted within ERM II is less restrictive than Bulgaria's current strict peg of 1.95583 BGN to 1 EUR. The lev has been pegged to the euro since its launch, and prior to that was pegged on par to the German Mark. While the currency board which pegs Bulgaria to the euro has been seen as beneficial to the country fulfilling criteria so quickly, the ECB has pressured Bulgaria to drop it as it did not know

title: Currency substitution

text: in a context of stable macroeconomic fundamentals and long-standing unofficial currency substitution. The eurozone adopted the euro (€) as its common currency and sole legal tender in 1999, which might be considered a variety of full-commitment regime similar to full currency substitution despite some evident differences from other currency substitutions. For more on dollarisation, cf. Fields, David, and Matías Vernengo. "Dollarization." The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization (2013). There are two common indicators of currency substitution. The first measure is the share of foreign currency deposits (FCD) in the domestic banking system in the broad money including FCD. The second is

title: Currency Centre

text: Currency Centre The Currency Centre (also known as the Irish Mint) is the mint of coins and printer of banknotes for the Central Bank of Ireland, including the euro currency. The centre is located at Sandyford, Dublin, Ireland. The centre does not print the complete range of euro banknotes. Other denominations are imported. The centre was designed by the architect Sam Stephenson, for which he won the RIAI Triennial Gold Medal in 1977-1979 and opened for business in 1978. Before the centre was established, Irish coins were produced in the Royal Mint. The first euro coins were minted in the

title: Euro convergence criteria

text: Euro convergence criteria The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the euro as their currency. The four main criteria, which actually comprise five criteria as the "fiscal criterion" consists of both a "debt criterion" and a "deficit criterion", are based on (ex article 121.1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Full EMU membership is only open to EU member states. However, the European microstates of Andorra, Monaco,

title: Latvian euro coins

text: Latvian euro coins Latvia replaced its previous currency, the lats, with the euro on 1 January 2014, after a European Union (EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all convergence criteria necessary for euro adoption. The adoption process began 1 May 2004, when Latvia joined the European Union, entering the EU's Economic and Monetary Union. At the start of 2005, the lats was pegged to the euro at Ls 0.702804 = €1, and Latvia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM ll), four months later on 2 May 2005. Latvia's Treaty of Accession to the European

title: United Kingdom and the euro

text: United Kingdom and the euro The United Kingdom has never sought to adopt the euro as its official currency for the duration of its membership of the European Union (EU), and secured an opt-out at the euro's creation via the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Polls have shown that the majority of British people have been against adopting the euro, and in a June 2016 referendum the UK voted to withdraw from the EU which would virtually eliminate the chance of any future adoption. Despite never being a member of the euro, the currency is used in the UK's Cypriot territories

title: Denmark and the euro

text: the euro. Since 2011, polls have consistently shown majority opposition to joining the Eurozone. "Greens Analyseinstitut", a public opinion research company, has generally asked "How would you vote at a possible new referendum about participation of Denmark in the common currency?" . The Faroe Islands currently use the Faroese króna, a localised version of the Danish krone but legally the same currency. Such notes are normally not accepted by shops in Denmark proper, or foreign exchange bureaus, but exchanged 1:1 in Danish banks. Greenland currently uses ordinary Danish kroner but has considered introducing its own currency, the Greenlandic krone in

title: Euro Currency Index

text: was 34.38805726 multiplied by the product of all components in the basket of currencies, that have been raised to a high number of their percentage, weighting equal to: ECX = 34.38805726 x (EURUSD^(0.3155) x EURGBP^(0.3056) x EURJPY^(0.1891) x EURCHF^(0.1113) x EURSEK^(0.0785)) The all-time low was constructed on 6 July 2001, with 83.36 points and the all-time high on July 14, 2008, 123.82 points. On 20 May 2011, the exchange ICE Futures U.S. ended the trading of futures and options on the index. On July 28, 2011, the calculation of the ICE Euro Currency Index was discontinued (last value was 108.88

title: Language and the euro

text: a final "-o" (like "euro" from "Europa"), other linguists, like Ramón d'Andrés, defend the spelling "euro". Bulgarian uses Cyrillic. The current design of euro banknotes, except for the "new" €5, €10, €20, €50, and upcoming €100 banknotes, has the word "euro" written in Latin and Greek alphabets. The 2013 design of the € 5 banknote introduced Cyrillic, adopting the spelling ЕВРО, as described below. When Bulgaria issues Euro coins, if the Greek model is followed, the alternative spelling will go on the national (obverse) side. In popular Bulgarian usage the currency is referred to as евро and, less often, (from

title: Sweden and the euro

text: Some cash machines may dispense foreign currency. Usually the euro is the foreign currency dispensed, but sometimes British pounds, US dollars, Danish kroner or Norwegian kroner are dispensed instead. All of these cash machines also dispense Swedish kronor. Most of these cash machines are located in major cities, international airports and border areas. The euro is present in some elements of Swedish law, based on EU directives. For example, an EU directive states that all transactions in euros inside the EU shall have the same fees as euro transactions within the country concerned. The Swedish government has made an amendment

title: Bulgaria and the euro

text: how to let a country using a currency board join the euro. The Prime Minister has stated the desire to keep the currency board until the euro was adopted. However, factors such as a high inflation, an unrealistic exchange rate with the euro and the country's low productivity are negatively affected by the system. Simeon Dyankov, Bulgaria's then-finance minister, said in September 2009 that Bulgaria planned to enter ERM II in November 2009, but this was delayed. It was then delayed further due to an increased budget deficit, outside the Maastricht criteria. Since 2011, Bulgaria's non-membership of the ERM has

title: Reserve currency

text: economy, the German Deutsche Mark gained the status of the second most important reserve currency after the US dollar. When the euro was introduced on 1 January 1999, replacing the Mark, French franc and ten other European currencies, it inherited the status of a major reserve currency from the Mark. Since then, its contribution to official reserves has risen continually as banks seek to diversify their reserves, and trade in the eurozone continues to expand. Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in September 2007 that the euro could replace the U.S. dollar as the world's primary reserve currency.

title: Euro

text: states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally the pound sterling) that day. The procedure used to fix the conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different, since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand. The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's

title: History of the euro

text: official currency. The euro is only used in the government-controlled areas of the Republic, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (under UK jurisdiction, outside the EU) and in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. The de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continues to use the new Turkish lira as its primary currency and the euro as its secondary currency. Malta replaced the Maltese lira with the euro on 1 January 2008. The aims were officially confirmed on 26 February 2007. On 16 May 2007, the Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs of the EU, Joaquín Almunia,

title: 200 euro note

text: yellow colour scheme. The two hundred euro banknotes depict bridges and arches/doorways in Art Nouveau style (19th and 20th centuries). The €200 note contains several complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink, holograms and microprinting that document its authenticity. The new banknotes of the Europa series 200 euro banknote will start circulating on 28 May 2019. The euro was founded on 1 January 1999, when it became the currency of over 300 million people in Europe. For the first three years of its existence it was an invisible currency, only used in accountancy. Euro cash was not introduced until

title: 100 euro note

text: has a green colour scheme. The hundred euro notes depict bridges and arches/doorways in the Baroque and Rococo style (between the 17th and 18th century). The hundred euro note contains several complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink, holograms and microprinting that document its authenticity. The new banknotes of the Europa series 100 euro banknote will start circulating on 28 May 2019. The euro was founded on 1 January 1999, when it became the currency of over 300 million people in Europe. For the first three years of its existence it was an invisible currency, only used in accountancy.

title: 10 euro note

text: about 1.5 years before it is replaced due to wear. It is the second-smallest note measuring 127x67 mm with a pink colour scheme. The ten euro banknotes depict bridges and arches/doorways in Romanesque architecture (between the 11th and 12th centuries). The ten euro note contains several complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink, holograms and microprinting that document its authenticity. The euro was founded on 1 January 1999, when it became the currency of over 300 million people in Europe. For the first three years of its existence it was an invisible currency, only used in accountancy. Euro cash

title: Currency symbol

text: fonts. The original design was also exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most typefaces employing customized, font-specific versions, usually with reduced width. Currency symbol A currency symbol is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currency's name, especially in reference to amounts of money. Although several former currency symbols were rendered obsolete by the adoption of the euro, having a new and unique currency symbol implementation of which requires the adoption of new Unicode and type formats has now become a status symbol for international currencies. The European Commission considers the global recognition of the euro

title: Language and the euro

text: to as "euro". This is the same for Albanian in Kosovo, Macedonia and rest of the Balkans. Some Kosovo Albanian speakers however, pronounce euro like Germans; 'oiro'/'oi', due to heavily migration. It is derived from the Albanian word for Europe, "Europa", "Europë" and also "Evropa"/"Evropë". All variants are official in Albanian, however Albania uses Euro, Europa or Europe whilst other Albanian dialects such as in Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia often use Evrope or Evropa. However the currency euro is not ever pronounced as evro like their Slavic neighbours. Note: depending on dialect, location, diaspora and ethnicity some Albanians vary

title: Reserve currency

text: It was "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the US dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency." Econometric analysis by Jeffrey Frankel and Menzie Chinn in 2006 suggested that the euro could replace the U.S. dollar as the major reserve currency by 2020 if either the remaining EU members, including the UK and Denmark, adopted the euro by 2020, or the recent depreciation trend of the dollar persisted into the future. In recent years, the euro's share of the worldwide currency reserve basket has continued to increase—albeit at a slower rate than

title: Montenegro and the euro

text: Montenegro and the euro Montenegro has no currency of its own. From 1996 the Deutsche Mark was the "de facto" currency in all private and banking transactions and it was formally adopted as Montenegro's currency in November 1999. The mark was replaced by the euro in 2002 without any objections from the European Central Bank (ECB). The European Commission and the ECB have since voiced their discontent over Montenegro's unilateral use of the euro on several occasions, with Amelia Torres, a spokesperson for the European Commission, saying "The conditions for the adoption of the euro are clear. That means, first

title: Denomination (currency)

text: Denomination (currency) Denomination is a proper description of a currency amount, usually for coins or banknotes. Denominations may also be used with other means of payment like gift cards. For example, "five euros" is the denomination of a five euro note. In a currency, there is usually a main unit (base), and a subunit that is a fraction of the main unit. In some countries, there are multiple levels of subunits. In the former Ottoman Empire, 1 lira = 100 kuruş = 4000 para = 12000 akçe. Today, only a few places have more than one subunit, notably the Jordanian

title: Currency crisis

text: rate breaks. The linkage between currency, banking, and default crises increases the chance of twin crises or even triple crises, outcomes in which the economic cost of each individual crisis is enlarged. Currency crises can be especially destructive to small open economies or bigger, but not sufficiently stable ones. Governments often take on the role of fending off such attacks by satisfying the excess demand for a given currency using the country's own currency reserves or its foreign reserves (usually in the United States dollar, Euro or Pound sterling). Currency crises have large, measurable costs on an economy, but the

title: 5 euro cent coin

text: have already agreed upon their coin designs; however, it is not known if or when they will adopt the currency, and hence these are not yet minted. See enlargement of the Eurozone for expected entry dates of these countries. In the Netherlands, the coin carries the nickname stuiver, carried over from the previous currency. The three copper coins are also nicknamed , or in Flemish. 5 euro cent coin The 5 euro cent coin (€0.05) has a value of one twentieth of a euro and is composed of copper-covered steel. All coins have a common reverse and country-specific (national) obverse.

title: Currency bill tracking

text: laws of the country issuing the currency. The most popular currencies for currencies tracking are the Euro, the United States Dollar (USD), and the Canadian Dollar (CAD). Originally beginning in the United States in the mid-1990s, the phenomenon or hobby of currency tracking quickly spread first to Canada and then beyond. Especially with the Euro bill tracking, trackers have taken on a much more competitive nature and have formed communities within their respective sites. Many successful sites incorporate some sort of social media, either through site specific unique techniques, or through outside popular social media sites. In the Eurozone because

title: 50 euro note

text: 50 euro note The fifty euro note (€50) is one of the middle value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used by some 343 million Europeans and in the 23 countries which have the euro as their sole currency (with 22 legally adopting it). In August 2018, there were about 10,030,000,000 fifty euro banknotes in circulation in the eurozone. It is by far the most widely circulated denomination, accounting for over 46% of the total banknotes. Estimates suggest that the average life of a fifty

title: 20 euro note

text: 20 euro note The twenty euro note (€20) is the third-lowest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used in the 23 countries which have it as their sole currency (with 22 legally adopting it); with a population of about 343 million. In August 2018, there were approximately 3,845,000,000 twenty euro banknotes in circulation around the eurozone. It is the second most widely circulated denomination, accounting for over 17% of the total banknotes. Estimates suggest that the average life of a twenty euro banknote is

title: 10 euro note

text: 10 euro note The ten euro note (€10) is the second-lowest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used in the 23 countries which have it as their sole currency (with 22 legally adopting it); with a population of about 343 million. In August 2018, there were approximately 2,500,000,000 ten euro banknotes in circulation around the eurozone. It is the fourth most widely circulated denomination, accounting for over 11% of the total banknotes. Estimates suggest that the average life of a ten euro banknote is

title: 5 euro note

text: 5 euro note The five euro note (€5) is the lowest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used in the 25 countries which have it as their sole currency (with 23 legally adopting it); with a population of about 343 million. In August 2018, there were approximately 1,871,000,000 five euro banknotes in circulation around the eurozone. It is the fifth most widely circulated denomination, accounting for over 8% of the total banknotes. Estimates suggest that the average life of a five euro banknote is

title: Hard currency

text: EUR = 1.20 CHF, to protect its trade. This action temporarily eliminated the franc's hard currency advantage over the euro but was abandoned in January 2015. Investors as well as ordinary people generally prefer hard currencies to soft currencies at times of increased inflation (or, more precisely, times of increased inflation differentials between countries), at times of heightened political or military risk, or when they feel that one or more government-imposed exchange rates are unrealistic. There may be regulatory reasons for preferring to invest outside one's home currency, e.g. the local currency may be subject to capital controls which makes

title: 500 euro note

text: 500 euro note The five hundred euro note (€500) is the highest-value euro banknote and was produced between the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002 until 2014. As of 2018, the banknote is still under circulation. It was one of the highest-value circulating banknotes in the world, worth around 620 USD, 3,914 CNY, 66,413 JPY, 584 CHF or 440 GBP. The note is used in the 23 countries which have the euro as their sole currency (with 22 legally adopting it), with a population of about 343 million. Initially, the high denomination notes were introduced very

title: Croatia and the euro

text: said at the government session that "some occasional announcements when Croatia will introduce the euro shouldn't be taken seriously. We'll try to make it as soon as possible, but I distance myself from any dates and ask that you don't comment on it. When the country is ready, it will enter the euro area. The criteria are very clear." In November 2017, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that Croatia is aiming to join ERM-2 by 2020 and to introduce the Euro by 2025. Croatia and the euro Croatia's currency, the kuna, has used the euro (and prior to that one

title: Dynamic currency conversion

text: the account that is to be selected. The DCC makes an assumption that the account home currency is the currency of the card's country of issue. This assumption can result in DCC being offered incorrectly. For example, a DCC-enabled terminal in the Eurozone will offer DCC to a customer paying with a debit card issued in the United Kingdom on a euro bank account. If the customer mistakenly chooses DCC, then the transaction will first be converted from EUR to GBP by the DCC provider, and then from GBP back to EUR by the UK card issuer, often with its

title: World currency

text: status as a major reserve currency from the German mark (DM) and its contribution to official reserves has increased as banks seek to diversify their reserves and trade in the eurozone expands. As with the dollar, some of the world's currencies are pegged against the euro. They are usually Eastern European currencies like the Bulgarian lev, plus several west African currencies like the Cape Verdean escudo and the CFA franc. Other European countries, while not being EU members, have adopted the euro due to currency unions with member states, or by unilaterally superseding their own currencies: Andorra, Monaco, Kosovo, Montenegro,

title: Euro sign

text: setups often produced errors. One example is a content management system where articles are stored in a database using a different character set than the editor's computer. Another is legacy software which could only handle older encodings such as ISO 8859-1 that contained no euro sign at all. In such situations, character set conversions had to be made, often introducing conversion errors such as a question mark (?) being displayed instead of a euro sign. Care has been taken to avoid replacing an existing obsolete currency sign with the euro sign. That could create different currency signs for sender and

title: 200 euro note

text: 200 euro note The two hundred euro note (€200) is the second-highest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used in the 23 countries which have the euro as their sole currency (with 22 legally adopting it); with a population of about 343 million. In August 2018, there were about 251,000,000 €200 banknotes in circulation around the eurozone. It is the least widely circulated denomination, accounting for 1.2% of the total banknotes. It is the second-largest note, measuring 153 × 82 mm, and has a

title: 100 euro note

text: 100 euro note The one hundred euro note (€100) is one of the higher value euro banknotes and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used daily by some 343 million Europeans and in the 23 countries which have it as their sole currency (with 22 legally adopting it). In August 2018, there were approximately 2,725,000,000 hundred euro banknotes in circulation in the eurozone. It is the third most widely circulated denomination, accounting for over 12% of the total banknotes. It is the third largest note measuring × and

title: Hard currency

text: Fiat money as legal tender in a process known as dollarization. Examples include the adoption of the US dollar in Panama, Ecuador, El Salvador and Zimbabwe and the adoption of the German mark and later the euro in Kosovo and Montenegro. Hard currency Hard currency, safe-haven currency or strong currency is any globally traded currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's "hard" status might include the long-term stability of its purchasing power, the associated country's political and fiscal condition and outlook, and the policy posture of the issuing central bank. Safe

title: Currency substitution

text: currency substitution happens when a country adopts a foreign currency as its sole legal tender, and ceases to issue the domestic currency. Another effect of a country adopting a foreign currency as its own is that the country gives up all power to vary its exchange rate. There are a small number of countries adopting a foreign currency as legal tender. Full currency substitution has mostly occurred in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as many countries in those regions see the United States Dollar as a stable currency compared to the national one. For example, Panama underwent full

title: 2003 Swedish euro referendum

text: 2003 Swedish euro referendum A non-binding referendum on introduction of the euro was held in Sweden on 14 September 2003. The majority voted not to adopt the euro, and thus Sweden decided in 2003 not to adopt the euro for the time being. Had they voted in favor, the plan was that Sweden would have adopted the euro on 1 January 2006. The ballot text was "Do you think that Sweden should introduce the euro as currency?" (). Sweden in Europe was the main umbrella group campaigning for a Yes vote. The No vote campaign was led by two organisations,

title: History of the euro

text: adopting the currency on that date. In 2013 Latvia gained the support of the European Commission, Central Bank and Parliament for accession on 1 January 2014 with Latvia adopting the currency on that date. On 23 July 2014 Lithuania became the last Baltic state to gain permission to join the euro, which was adopted on 1 January 2015. The chart below provides a full summary of all applying exchange-rate regimes for EU members, since the European Monetary System with its Exchange Rate Mechanism and the related new common currency ECU was born on 13 March 1979. The euro replaced the

title: Andorra and the euro

text: facto" used the EU's euro (the currency of the Eurozone states) as it had historically used the French franc and Spanish peseta. When those two currencies were replaced by the euro in 2002, the euro replaced the franc and peseta as the sole circulating currency in Andorra. Unlike the three other European microstates outside of the EU, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City, which adopted the euro when it was introduced, Andorra did not conclude a monetary agreement with the EU but rather used it unilaterally. These agreements gave the three microstates the right to issue their own euro

title: Currency

text: order to remove the confusion that there are dozens of currencies called the dollar and many called the franc. Even the pound is used in nearly a dozen different countries; most of these are tied to the Pound Sterling, while the remainder have varying values. In general, the three-letter code uses the ISO 3166-1 country code for the first two letters and the first letter of the name of the currency (D for dollar, for instance) as the third letter. United States currency, for instance is globally referred to as USD. The International Monetary Fund uses a variant system when

text: is attractive for international transactions when it demonstrates stability, a well-developed financial market to trade the currency, and acceptability to others. While the euro has made substantial progress, a few challenges undermine the ascension of the euro as a major reserve currency. Persistent excessive budget deficits of some member nations, economically weak new members, conservatism of financial markets, and inertia or path dependence are important factors keeping the euro as a junior international currency to the US dollar. However, at the same time, the USD has increasingly suffered from a double deficit and has its own concerns. As the euro