He underlined that the country still failed to meet the inflation and budget deficit criteria although he believed that the deficit would be reduced below the criteria ceiling of 3% of GDP this year already. Almunia expected that the fiscal adjustment efforts would continue in the following years. According to him, Slovakia would be evaluated for eligibility for euro adoption in the spring of next year when the stability of the exchange rate in the ERM II would also be considered. In turn, PM Robert Fico stated that the government remained fully committed to adopting the euro in the beginning of 2009 and its fiscal and social policies were coordinated to serve this target. (financnik.sk)
