It's official: Latvia’s invited to join the eurozone

  • 2013-07-09
  • From wire reports

During the July 9 Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting in Brussels, European Union finance ministers made the final decision to allow Latvia to join the eurozone, reports Nozare.lv. Thus, on Jan. 1, Latvia will become the eurozone’s 18th member.

Latvian Finance Minister Andris Vilks announced the positive decision through his Twitter account.
Meanwhile, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis wrote in his Twitter account that the official lat-euro exchange rate will be - 0.702804 lats (70.3 santims) for one euro.

“The expansion of the eurozone is a show of trust towards the euro,” added the prime minister. Dombrovskis said that the introduction of the euro will also help Latvia attract more investments, as well as improve the country’s credit rating.