Euro_as_an_International_Currency

Euro as an International Currency INTRODUCTION The Euro was introduced as a trading currency in 1 January 1999, with 11 of the initial 15 members of the EMU initially adopting the Euro as its currency, with this increasing to 12 when Greece agreed to join the other 11 members on 1 January 2001. Europe's single 11-nation basket currency, which began trading in January 1999 with a value of about $1.17 to the USD, fell steadily during the first half of the year but was able to establish a footing, albeit short lived, at just above parity with the USD. In economic terms, the Euro's decline could prove to have little short term effect, however, the psychological impact could have longer term implications because it implied shaky confidence in either the Euro or Europe's ability to achieve sustained growth. The Euro replaced the local currencies of the 12 members as of 1 January 2001, with the existing currencies to be phased out over the ensuring six to twelve month period. To date the other countries that are not to adopt the Euro as its standard currency shall be the UK, Denmark and Norway. It is by no coincidence that these three countries form the nucleus of the three currency, euro, single, uk, countries, join, emu, rates, joining, economic, businesses, united, kingdom, government, interest, firms, exchange, rate, growth, currencies, trade, make, set, need, europe, affect, whether, should, said, might, decision, cross-border, competition, within, same, replaced, prices, members, mechanism, markets, likely, january, inflation, expected, eu, different, changes, business, between, basis