The euro will prosper again and Iceland would benefit greatly from adopting the currency, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson said in a speech today. The minister addressed a symposium entitled ‘Is the euro the solution?’ marking the reestablishment of the Icelandic-French Chamber of Commerce.
Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
In his speech, Össur said that the euro would flourish again despite the current problems. The minister cited the recent Central Bank of Iceland report on Iceland’s currency and exchange rate policy options, stating that the króna is “not a defender against fluctuations, but is itself a source of fluctuations.”
The minister went on to say that, according to the report, the adoption of the euro would offer Iceland a range of benefits including “lower rates, larger markets, increased stability, lower prices, less inflation, the report gives reasons to expect that membership of the monetary union would permanently increase the Icelandic GDP by 20 to 160 billion króna, it will reduce the cost of business by 5-15 billion each year, and in addition it will save us heaps of króna by making a large currency reserve redundant.”
Össur said that there is “a bunch of reasons, political and economic, too many to recount, why Europe cannot afford to, and will not, let the euro break down.”
Click here and here to read more about the debate surrounding the adoption of the euro.
ZR
