In accordance with the National Plan for the Changeover from the Croatian Kuna to the Euro, adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia on 23 December 2020, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics participates in the activities of the preparation and introduction of the euro as the official currency in the Republic of Croatia.
The representatives of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics were engaged in the work of two coordination committees: the Coordination Committee for the Adjustment of the General Government and the Coordination Committee for the Adjustment of the Economy and Consumer Protection.
Adjustments in official statistics refer to the following activities:
Certain statistical data produced by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics are expressed in the national currency, that is, in kuna. Statistical data are collected, processed and disseminated in certain periodicity, and in order to meet user needs, they cover as long periods as possible. These are the time series of data. In the process of the changeover to the new official currency, the existing time series expressed in kuna were converted into and published in the new currency, the euro, in order to enable continuity in monitoring the movement of certain phenomena in the society and the economy. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics converted 166 time series of data expressed in kuna. They were converted into the euro applying the fixed exchange rate1) and in accordance with the Act on the Introduction of the Euro as the Official Currency in the Republic of Croatia (hereinafter: the Act). Therefore, pursuant to Article 74, paragraph 3 of the Act, the Director General of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics adopted the Instruction on the Conversion of Time Series of Statistical Data within the Competence of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics from Kuna to Euro. The Instruction contains the list of all time series that will be converted, as well as the periods that will be covered by the conversion into the euro applying the fixed exchange rate.
1) The fixed exchange rate is 1 euro = 7.53450 kuna.
In the process of the changeover to the euro, the data collection forms needed to be adjusted, and this, in addition to changing the kuna to the euro, in some cases also required additional new variables for which data will be collected and processed (e.g. data on industrial producer prices or data on industrial production that are reported by markets, and with regard to the change in the eurozone market, which the Republic of Croatia joined on 1 January 2023).
For the purpose of introducing the euro, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics will introduce two new surveys:
1 Monthly Survey on Import Price Index
2 Average Retail Prices of Goods and Services in Kuna and Euro in the Republic of Croatia
One of the activities of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics during the process of introducing the euro as the official currency includes the adaptation of information systems and other application solutions used for statistical data production, that is, for the production, processing and dissemination of statistical data. It includes all the necessary changes in the structure of databases and files, that is, adaptations of certain applications and other IT solutions.
With the introduction of the euro, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics publishes the statistical data expressed in the national currency that refer to the period after 1 January 2023 in euro. The first data expressed in euro were published in mid-March 2023, and they refer to the data on the average monthly net and gross earnings of persons in paid employment in January 2023.
The statistical data that refer to the period until 31 December 2022 and are expressed in the national currency, are presented in kuna and according to the fixed exchange rate of the euro. The published time series of statistical data converted into the euro according to the fixed exchange rate will be published regardless of the publishing deadlines defined in the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues for individual statistical domains.
The statistical data that refer to the period until 31 December 2022 and are published after 1 January 2023, are presented both in kuna and according to the fixed exchange rate of the euro, and are published in accordance with the publishing deadlines announced in the Calendar of Statistical Data Issues. For example, the data on the average monthly net and gross earnings of persons in paid employment, by sex, fourth quarter of 2022, which were published in February 2023, are presented in kuna and according to the fixed exchange rate of the euro.