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| Photo credit: CNBC article |
I've been to Vilnius, and let me tell you ... it did NOT look like this in 1987.
What? This country just joined the euro zone, by Katy Barnato (CNBC)
Lithuania joined the euro zone on Thursday, despite long-lasting fears about the currency union's economic health, and reignited worries about Greece exiting the group.
The Baltic nation, which has a population of just 3 million, got the green light to adopt the euro in July 2014, and officially joined the euro zone on January 1.
To qualify, Lithuania had to meet five economic "convergence criteria," including price and exchange rate stability and low levels of government debt and deficit. Its people will exchange their Lithuanian litas at a rate of 3.4528 to the euro.
Lithuania is following in the footsteps of other former Eastern bloc countries which joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 and went on to enter the euro zone. These include Estonia and Slovakia, and most lately, neighboring Latvia.
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