欧美文化:Bank of Italy to play key role as Croatia prepares to join euro area

ROME, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Italy said Tuesday it will exchange the Croatian kuna at parity value after the country adopts the euro currency on Jan. 1.

In July, the Council of the European Union approved Croatia as the 20th country to gain accession to the euro currency.

In 2020, Croatia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (EERM), establishing the value of the kuna at 7.5345 per euro.

According to a statement from the Bank of Italy, the kuna and the euro will both be accepted as currency until Jan. 15. After that date, only the euro will be accepted as legal tender, though prices for goods and services in the country will continue to be published in both currencies until the end of 2023.

To help facilitate the changeover, the Bank of Italy will carry out kuna-euro exchanges in January and February free of charge. These exchanges will be done at the Bank of Italy's headquarters in Ancona, Milan, and Rome, and at branch offices in Trieste and Venice. There will be a limit of 8,000 kunas (about 1,062 euros) per transaction.

Italy is one of the 11 original member states that adopted the euro currency starting in 1999, and the currency went into use on Jan. 1, 2002.