Ekonomické predpoklady integrácie Slovenska do Európskej menovej únie
ECONOMIC PREREQUISITIES FOR SLOVAKIA´S INTEGRATION INTO THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION

Summary/Abstract: The process of integrating the Slovak Republic (SR) into European institutions has rea-ched the stage where membership in the European Union (EU) has more or less stopped to be a question mark and the question of future admission of the SR to the European Monetary Union (EMU) has become a priority. At the same time, entry into the EMU upon the accession to the EU is not an option but a must, since for new Member States including Slovakia; the possibility of the so-called opt-out has not been deli-berated. A question remaining is the time scale of the entry into the EMU, which is not explicitly determined, and the country has a certain, although limited freedom to shape it. When addressing this issue, it is necessary to formulate a strategy which would reduce potential additional costs to be incurred when the fulfilment of eligibility criteria for entry into the EMU is artificially speeded up, and which at the same time would reduce the losses to be incurred in the event that the entry is unnecessarily delayed. In order to outline the context relevant for the development of such a strategy, an Analysis of Economic and Monetary Development in the Slovak Republic from the Point of View of Integration of the Slovak Republic into the European Monetary Union was elaborated by the research staff of the Institute of Monetary and Financial Studies (IMFS) of The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), in 2002. This article presents in a shortened version the first part of the above mentioned IMFS’s document. The understanding of the process of convergence is first defined as a phenomenon that has two complementary and interdependent facets, real and nominal, which leads to the necessity of parallel progression along both lines. In order to assess the situation in respect to the accession process in the SR, it is important to compare the status and the dynamics of development of the Slovak economy with the economies of the current EMU members prior to their entry into the euro area, as well as of the present candidate countries. It can be stated that the parameters of the Slovak economy do not differ significantly from the parameters pertaining to the other countries compared. At the same time, there are some specific differences calling for specific solutions. In con-nection with this, there is a discussion on the issues of fiscal convergence, consequences of changes in the structure of financial market upon the currency transmission, as well as issues related to the nature of potential responses of the Slovak economy within the euro area from the point of view of the optimum currency area theory. Attention is also paid to the issues such as developments in the foreign trade sector and the competitiveness of the Slovak economy. The article closes with a formal framework for accession to the EMU. To be continued. For more details see the full text (Slovak as well as English version) on the National Bank of Slovakia web page www.nbs.sk.

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