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The design of Latvian euro coins features three separate designs. The design of the national side was publicized in July 2006 on the home page of the National Bank of Latvia. The designs featured were the Latvian maiden, (which featured on the 5 lats coin prior to World War II) on the 1 and 2 euro coins, the greater Coat of arms of Latvia on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, and the lesser Coat of arms of Latvia on the 1, 2 and 5 cent coins. Originally, it was planned that Freedom Monument would be featured on the 2 euro coin, but the original design did not meet the regulations of the European Central Bank since it reached out into the ring of the coin and changed one of the stars. Latvia decided that a changed design of the monument would not be as recognisable and decided to use the Latvian maiden, used on the 1 euro coin, on the 2 euro coin as well.

Latvia has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004, and as such also a member of the Economic and Monetary Union, but it has not yet completed the third stage of the EMU, and therefore still uses its own currency: The Latvian lats. Latvia had originally planned to adopt the euro as its official currency on 1 January 2008. In the last convergence report the country managed to comply with four out of the five needed convergence criteria for euro adoption. As the country currently is headed to comply with all five criteria in the first half of 2013, it is now expected that Latvia will introduce the euro on 1 January 2014 or further depending on the Eurozone crisis developments.

Proposed Latvian euro design

For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins. These designs must be regarded as pattern pieces: they have no official status or sanction.

A tender for minting the Latvian euro coins began on 20 September 2012. On 10 December 2012, it was announced that Latvia will utilize the Stuttgart Mint.

Convergence Status

The Maastricht Treaty originally required that all members of the European Union join the euro once certain economic criteria are met. In April 2012, when Latvia last time was officially evaluated by ECB, it met 3 out of the 5 criteria. Latvia has announced that they will request that another evaluation be conducted in March 2013. Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis stated in January 2013 that Latvia "are currently fulfilling the Maastricht criteria with a considerable reserve, therefore I don't see any basis on which this convergence report would be negative." According to the official statistics from Eurostat, Latvia as of 31 December 2012 only complied with 4 out of 5 convergence criteria (due to exceeding the interest reference value limit at the time), but as of 31 January 2013 it indeed complied with all 5 euro convergence criteria.

Convergence criteria

Assessment month	Country	HICP inflation rate	Excessive deficit procedure		Exchange rate		Long-term interest rate	Compatibility of legislation
			Budget deficit to GDP	Debt-to-GDP ratio	ERM II member	Change in rate
2012 ECB Report	Reference values	Max. 3.1% (as of 31 Mar 2012)	None open (as of 31 March 2012)		Min. 2 years (as of 31 Mar 2012)	Max. ±15% (for 2011)	Max. 5.80% (as of 31 Mar 2012)	Yes (as of 31 Mar 2012)
			Max. 3.0% (Fiscal year 2011)	Max. 60% (Fiscal year 2011)
	Latvia	4.1%	Open		6 years, 11 months	0.3%	5.77%	No
			3.5%	42.6%
2024 ECB Report	Reference values	Max. 3.3% (as of May 2024)	None open (as of 19 June 2024)		Min. 2 years (as of 19 June 2024)	Max. ±15% (for 2023)	Max. 4.8% (as of May 2024)	Yes (as of 27 March 2024)
			Max. 3.0% (Fiscal year 2023)	Max. 60% (Fiscal year 2023)

Notes

1. The rate of increase of the 12-month average HICP over the prior 12-month average must be no more than 1.5% larger than the unweighted arithmetic average of the similar HICP inflation rates in the 3 EU member states with the lowest HICP inflation. If any of these 3 states have a HICP rate significantly below the similarly averaged HICP rate for the eurozone (which according to ECB practice means more than 2% below), and if this low HICP rate has been primarily caused by exceptional circumstances (i.e. severe wage cuts or a strong recession), then such a state is not included in the calculation of the reference value and is replaced by the EU state with the fourth lowest HICP rate.
2. The arithmetic average of the annual yield of 10-year government bonds as of the end of the past 12 months must be no more than 2.0% larger than the unweighted arithmetic average of the bond yields in the 3 EU member states with the lowest HICP inflation. If any of these states have bond yields which are significantly larger than the similarly averaged yield for the eurozone (which according to previous ECB reports means more than 2% above) and at the same time does not have complete funding access to financial markets (which is the case for as long as a government receives bailout funds), then such a state is not to be included in the calculation of the reference value.
3. The change in the annual average exchange rate against the euro.
4. Reference values from the ECB convergence report of May 2012.
5. Sweden, Ireland and Slovenia were the reference states.
6. ^ The maximum allowed change in rate is ± 2.25% for Denmark.
7. Sweden and Slovenia were the reference states, with Ireland excluded as an outlier.
8. Reference values from the Convergence Report of June 2024.
9. ^ Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands were the reference states.

Roadmap for euro adoption

A draft law was presented by the governments cabinet on 6 November 2012, which outlined four key regulations for the introduction of the euro: 1) ATM's will stop distributing lats from 1 January 2014, 2) Both Lats and Euros will be in circulation for two weeks, 3) Post offices will offer free exchange for a month (later being extended to three months in the final version of the law), 4) All shops must have dual price displays for three months before until six months after the adoption. The law was given final approval vote on 31 January 2013. For Latvia to adopt the euro on 1 January 2014, they will need to comply with all five convergence criteria. The Latvian finance minister announced in December 2012 that they planned to request a convergence compliance check in February 2013, which could lead to final approval from EcoFin Council in June and euro adoption on 1 January 2014.

See also

• Enlargement of the eurozone

References

1. "The Origins of Euro Coins: Latvia". National Bank of Latvia. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
2. ^ "Latvian Euro Coins". eiro.lv. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
3. "Latvia on Target to Join Euro in 2014". Bloomberg
4. "Bank of Latvia Announces Tender to Mint Euro Coins for Latvia". Latvia Today. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
5. "Tender Regulation: On the Potential Production, Packaging and Delivery of the Latvian Euro Circulation Coins (Amended by Resolution of Minutes no.3 meeting)" (PDF). Bank of Latvia. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
6. "Latvian euro coins Kal Germany for 5.306 million" (in Latvian). FinanceNet. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
7. ^ "Latvian parliament paves way to euro switch". EurActiv. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
8. "HICP (2005=100): Monthly data (12-month average rate of annual change)". Eurostat. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
9. "The corrective arm/ Excessive Deficit Procedure". European Commission. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
10. "Long-term interest rate statistics for EU Member States (monthly data for the average of the past year)". Eurostat. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
11. "Government deficit/surplus, debt and associated data". Eurostat. 22 April 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
12. "General government debt". Eurostat. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
13. "ERM II – the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism". European Commission. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
14. "Euro/ECU exchange rates - annual data". Eurostat. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
15. "Former euro area national currencies vs. euro/ECU - annual data". Eurostat. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
16. ^ "Convergence Report May 2012" (PDF). European Central Bank. May 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
17. "Convergence Report - 2012" (PDF). European Commission. March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
18. ^ "European economic forecast - spring 2012" (PDF). European Commission. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
19. ^ "Convergence Report June 2024" (PDF). European Central Bank. 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
20. "Convergence Report 2024" (PDF). European Commission. 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
21. "Luxembourg Report prepared in accordance with Article 126(3) of the Treaty" (PDF). European Commission. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
22. "EMI Annual Report 1994" (PDF). European Monetary Institute (EMI). April 1995. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
23. ^ "Progress towards convergence - November 1995 (report prepared in accordance with article 7 of the EMI statute)" (PDF). European Monetary Institute (EMI). November 1995. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
24. "Saeima adopted the euro Law". Saeima. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
25. "Latvia on Road to Adopt Euro in 2014". Sofia News Agency. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
26. "Introduction of the euro Law (No: 459/Lp11)". Saeima. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
27. "INTERVIEW: Latvia to apply to join euro zone in February 2013". Reuters Middle East. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2013.

External links

• Eiro.lv - the euro changeover site (Ministry of Finance of Latvia)
• Bank of Latvia
  • EU and euro
• The Euro Information Website – Latvia

• Use dmy dates from June 2011
• Coins of the Eurozone
• Economy of Latvia
• Latvia and the European Union