EXCHANGE RATE IN THE NEW MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS

Due to the global financial and economic crisis, the analysis of the nominal convergence criteria fulfillment in the New Member States of the European Union represents an important point in evaluating the level of readiness of these countries for euro adoption. The global financial and economic crisis had a relatively strong impact over most of the New Member States, as their macroeconomic disequilibria led to the amplification of their vulnerability level. The crisis' effects over the New Member States took place in a different manner depending on the existing exchange rate regime. During the last two years, the financial markets of the countries participating to the Exchange Rate Mechanism II crossed highly volatile periods, which generated strong tensions inside this mechanism. The exchange rates of the non-participants to the Exchange Rate Mechanism II registered strong fluctuations in most of the analyzed countries beginning from the end of 2008.