recent months, where the impact of the euro on prices has been additionally blurred by globally high inflation. the croatian national bank has made good use of advances in technology and methodology. using website price scraping, allowed them to more accurately assess the short - term impact of the euro on consumer prices. as you will soon hear, findings for croatia are not so different from slovenia's. * * * to sum up. the euro is mainly an asset for small countries, but its introduction also entails some risks, for example in the banking system. these deserve special attention. boris, i invite you to share with us the lessons and the fresh experience of croatia. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

bostjan vasle : introducing the euro in times of high inflation - case of croatia opening speech by mr bostjan vasle, governor of bank of slovenia, at the lecture " introducing the euro in times of high inflation - case of croatia ", ljubljana, 20 april 2023. * * * the spoken word applies. dear ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, welcome to the second lecture of foreign central bank governors this year. after hosting the governor of the central bank of estonia in march, today we have with us the governor of the croatian national bank, boris vuji. just a few months after croatia became the 20th country to join the euro area, governor vuji will present croatia's path to and the first experiences with adoption of the euro. with croatia's entry into the euro area this year, the euro has become the official currency for 347 million people. euro area enlargement adds to the role of the euro and the european economy, which is particularly important at a time of increased geopolitical tensions. the euro remains the second most widely used currency for trade invoicing, crossborder lending and foreign exchange trading, and holds the second largest share of global foreign exchange reserves, after the us dollar. even at a time of high inflation, support for the single currency among the eu population remains high, at over 70 % according to this winter's eurobarometer. with support at 87 %, slovenians are among the biggest supporters of the euro. * * * while we can draw several parallels between the introduction of the euro in slovenia in 2007 and in croatia this year, there are also some interesting differences. ( i ) slovenia was the first of the so - called new eu member states to adopt the euro. the introduction of the euro was accompanied by broad support in politics and the professional community, which contributed to an exceptionally high 72 % acceptance of the euro among the population. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches the fact that slovenians, as savers and consumers, were well familiar with the euro also boded well. in addition, it is worth highlighting the importance of thorough tree - year preparations for the euro adoption, in terms of technical, managerial and communication aspects. in croatia, there were more divisions and doubts about euro adoption, which made the determination and public engagement of the central bank and the government even more significant. ( ii ) for slovenia, one of the major challenges in meeting the criteria for joining the euro