Hungary in no rush to introduce euro

Hungary's Economy Ministry announced Thursday in a statement that Hungary has no target date for adopting the euro.
The ministry statement comes on the heels of the latest convergence report released by the European Union (EU) on Wednesday which focused on eight EU member states that have not yet adopted the euro.
The Hungarian government will pick the optimum time to introduce the euro when it can be done without putting economic achievements at risk and when it will serve to boost economic development and competitiveness, the ministry said.
The current report notes that Hungary has now complied with three of the five criteria required to introduce the euro, a significant improvement compared to 2012 when it still hadn't complied with any.
The EU found Hungary in compliance with price stability, long term interest rates, and public monies, but still needed to work on its legislation and exchange rates.
In the past year the consumer price index was up by only 1 percent, lower than the 1.7 percent EU reference value.
As far as the public monies criterion is concerned, it had managed to reduce its deficit to 2.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, well below the EU's target of 3 percent, and the 2014 deficit is shaping up to be 2.9 percent.
The long-term interest rate was 5.8 percent in April, less than the EU's reference value of 6.2 percent.
However, Hungary has still not brought its central bank laws into compliance with the EU requirements, and the exchange rate of the forint, the local currency has fluctuated significantly over the past year.
Hungary, on its part, is working to improve macroeconomic stability, to keep to its budget, and to continue to reduce its national debt. It also wants to accelerate economic growth and competitiveness, and to boost employment. Compared with these goals, the euro will have to wait, the statement said.