Jozef Makuch: Opening remarks - Tenth anniversary of the euro in Slovakia

Opening remarks by Mr Jozef Makuch, Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia, at the International Conference to mark the tenth anniversary of the introduction of the euro in Slovakia, Bratislava, 11 January 2019.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
17 January 2019

Dear Deputy Prime Minister Kažimír,

Dear Mr Mersch, our honoured guest from the ECB Executive Board,

Dear Governors,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to welcome so many distinguished guests to this conference, organised to mark the 10th anniversary of euro adoption in Slovakia. Ten years ago, when we were just switching to the euro, or even 15 years ago, when we started preparing for euro accession, we believed this would be the pinnacle of our integration process. We were coming from a small emerging market economy with volatile capital flows and unexpected foreign exchange pressures. We were looking forward to becoming part of the world's largest economy and the second most important global currency.