Ordinarily, I'd happily jump on the chance to brag about being right. Thing is, there's no point bragging, if you what you predicted is essentially math. The EURO was going to - and will - and has - already done damage to the Croatian economy.
But this was inevitable, 100 percent.
If you're from the US, or the UK, or Spain or France or Italy or Canada or Japan, it's important to point out that Croatia is not living in the same timeline as you are.
Croatia was a satellite of an empire that collapsed. Thirty-odd years ago, it wasn't a country. twenty-odd years ago, it looked completely different. Three months ago, it was using its own currency.
Croatia is not living in the same timeline as we do because they, unlike us, are going through a renaissance. Countries like Italy and Greece, for example, are decadent. Old. Placid. Croatia is young and on the rise.
However, the average salary is still low. Which means adopting the euro is a big blow - rhyme intended - to the economy.
By adopting the EURO, you give up most of your sovereign power when it comes to your monetary policy.
This is because you delegate your monetary sovereign power to the ECB, which is a non-entity where overpaid busybodies think, or make people think, they can create policies for countries that are drastically different.
But there's something else.
The smallest unit, 1 EURO, is a lot money in the Balkans. The smallest bill, 5 EURO, is a lot of money in the Balkans. Yesterday, with the KUNA, you could go buy items that cost the equivalent of €1.73 or €0.47 or €0.96.
Today, with a currency whose smallest bill is 5 EURO, it doesn't make sense to price things that way. Purely for practical reasons.
In short: prices will be adjusted to match the decimal units of a EURO. Which means your local beer is no longer the equivalent of €2.37, it's €3. And I can absolutely 100 percent guarantee it'll be €4 soon.
I spent a lot of time in Croatia and there's no two ways about it: prices have already gone up 25-30 percent since January 1, when Croatia gave up the KUNA and adopted the EURO.
Still, no skin off my nose. All my money's in crypto, so the ECB can sod right off.
