Analysts: Romania needs real convergence to join Eurozone in 2019

Romania must achieve real convergence, besides the nominal one, to adopt the euro, with the Maastricht criteria met, according to financial analysts who recently met at an annual conference. A 5% economic growth is required for Romania to join the Eurozone in 2019, an ambitious target that cannot be accomplished without effective policies, analysts say. "If we want to enter the Eurozone, we need to continue the convergence process, which means a 3-4% economic growth, while for the euro adoption in 2019 the growth should reach 5%", said Radu Craciun, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) chief economist, quoted by Mediafax. He believes that such a plan is very ambitious and doubts that the Romanian economy can reach such growth in a short time and that Romania will only be able to join the Eurozone in 2019. editor@romania-insider.com