Hungarians’ favourite holiday resort now only accepts euro
Croatia joined the eurozone on 1 January. After a two-week transition period, from Sunday, only euro payments will be possible in the country, the Croatian daily Vecernji List reports. Since Croatia is very popular among Hungarians, this will affect them as well.
Based on the practice of countries that have adopted the euro as their national currency, the Croatian National Bank (Hrvatska narodna banka, HNB) expects that 1.1 billion pieces of metallic currency and 500 million banknotes will be exchanged by citizens during the specified period, Portfolio writes.
Plenty of kuna left
They added that the kuna coins weigh the equivalent of 124 Zagreb trams, or 5,600 tonnes, while the banknotes, if stacked on top of each other, would form a column 50 kilometres high, six times higher than Mount Everest.
Until the end of 2023, banks and other financial institutions will exchange the kuna free of charge at the predetermined exchange rate. After 2023, it can only be exchanged at the central bank. Banknotes can be redeemed indefinitely, but metallic coins only for the next three years.
Source: portfolio.hu