Latvia’s Finance Ministry has opened a portal, www.eiro.lv, where you can quickly and conveniently find necessary and timely information about all issues related to the introduction of the euro in Latvia and the practical aspects thereof.
The portal offers information about the euro to local residents, businesspeople and media outlets in Latvian, Russian and English. There are facts about the scenario for implementing the European currency, and there are answers to frequently posed questions. You can pose your own question and receive an answer. Businesspeople will find detailed information about how to prepare for the euro, not least in terms of adapting IT systems for that purpose. The portal also has a calculator which shows how much a lats is worth in euros according to the Bank of Latvia’s official exchange rate.
A link to the portal can be found on the Citadele homepage. Just click on “Introducing the Euro in Latvia” on the west.citadele.lv homepage. We will also provide other information on the homepage about the implementation of the euro in terms of how that will affect the bank’s services.
The plan is that if the euro is introduced, all lats in various bank accounts will automatically be transferred at the specific moment into euros and for free, this being the most convenient and rapid way of doing so for clients. Financial instruments such as shares, loan agreements, etc., will also automatically be converted into euros so as to avoid any inconvenience for local residents.