The narrower band

The European Union's monetary affairs commissioner, Pedro Solbes, told reporters in Prague on 20 May that the currencies of EU applicant countries will have to remain within a +/-2.25 percent exchange-rate band for two years before those countries may adopt the euro, the Hungarian daily "Vilaggazdasag" reported on 21 May. It was previously assumed that the present requirement to stay within a +/-15 percent band would be sufficient. Hungarian financial analyst Gyorgy Barcza of ING Bank told the daily that Solbes's remarks have at least clarified the situation. The narrower band allows room for neither anti-inflationary exchange-rate policies nor loose fiscal policies, Barcza added.