Latvian euro coins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Latvian euro coins feature three separate designs.[1] The design of the national side was made public in July 2006 on the home page of the National Bank of Latvia. The designs featured will be the Latvian maiden (which featured on the 5 lats coin prior to World War II) on the 1 and 2 euro coins, the greater Coat of arms of Latvia on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, and the lesser Coat of arms of Latvia on the 1, 2 and 5 cent coins.
Originally, the Freedom Monument was planned to be featured on the €2 coin, but as the original design did not meet the regulations of the ECB (it reached out into the ring of the coin and changed one of the stars), it had to be changed; Latvia decided that a changed design of the Monument would not be as recognisable and decided to use the Latvian maiden on the €2 coin, as well.[2]
Latvia has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and is a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, but it has not completed the third stage of the EMU and therefore still uses its own currency, the Latvian lats. Latvia had originally planned to adopt the euro as its official currency on 1 January 2008. It is now expected that Latvia will introduce the euro in 2012 at the earliest,[3] although the head of the National Bank of Latvia has suggested that 2013 may be a more realistic date.[4]
However, due to the current world financial crisis and the fact that Latvia is asking for help from the IMF, it is possible that the IMF will force Latvia to give up its currency peg as a precondition; taking officially Latvia out of the ERM II and possibly moving the euro adoption date even further.[5]
[edit] Latvian euro design
For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins.
| € 0.01 | € 0.02 | € 0.05 |
|---|---|---|
 |
|
|
| Lesser coat of arms of Latvia | ||
| € 0.10 | € 0.20 | € 0.50 |
 |
|
|
| Greater coat of arms of Latvia | ||
| € 1.00 | € 2.00 | € 2 Coin Edge |
 |
 |
Currently unknown |
| Latvian maiden | ||
[edit] References
- ^ "The Origins of Euro Coins: Latvia". National Bank of Latvia. http://www.bank.lv/eng/main/all/sapinfo/coin_genesis/. Retrieved on 2008-07-12.
- ^ "The Design Models of the Latvian Euro Coins". National Bank of Latvia. http://www.bank.lv/eng/main/euro/design/. Retrieved on 2008-07-18.
- ^ "Don’t look for the Euro until after 2012". New Europe. 2007-08-18. http://www.neurope.eu/view_news.php?id=76779. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
- ^ "Bank targets 2013 as Latvia’s ‘E-day’". baltictimes.com. 2007-10-26. http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19151/. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
- ^ "€5bn question is whether IMF will force Latvia to give up currency peg". Business News Europe. http://businessneweurope.eu/storyf1384. Retrieved on 2008-12-3.
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
