Central bank governor: health of public finances key to euro adoption

The state of the Czech public finances is the factor in determining any possible date for the adoption of the euro, Governor of the Czech National Bank Oldřich Tůma said on Monday. Speaking at a conference on euro adoption in Prague, Mt Tůma also suggested 2015 as the earliest possible date the Czech Republic could adopt the common European currency. According to the Finance Ministry, the Czech Republic failed to fulfil two out of four criteria for euro adoption laid down in the Maastricht treaty; it exceeded the 3 percent limit of the state budget deficit, and it also failed to join the European exchange rate mechanism ERM II.