Publisher's Synopsis
Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Economics - Other, grade: 10, course: BACHELORS OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (DUAL HONORS), language: English, abstract: Euro, the common currency of European Union, was launched by 11 of the 15 members of the Union, on January 1, 1999. The Maastricht treaty of 1991, which set the stage for the monetary union, laid down certain eligibility criteria for member countries to join European Monetary Union (EMU), such as maintaining budget deficit, public debt, inflation, long term interest rates and exchange rate within defined limits . The Euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US $ 1.1743). Euro Coins and Banknotes entered circulation on 1 January 2002 . While the Euro dropped subsequently to US $ 0.8252 within 2 years (26/10/2000), it has traded above the US $ 1.5990 on July 15, 2008 . Since late 2009, the Euro has been immersed in the European Sovereign Debt Union Crisis which has led to the creation of 'European Financial Stability Facility' as well as other reforms aimed at stabilizing the currency. In July 2012, the euro fell below US $1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spain's troubled banking Sector. As of June 2012 with more than Euro 906 billion in circulation, the euro has the highest combined value of bank notes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the US $. Based on International Monetary Fund estimates of 2008 GDP and purchasing power parity among the various currencies, the Euro Zone is the second largest economy in the world. The countries whose currencies are in Euro are known as Euro land. In this background, the present term paper will try to explore the emergence, ascent and recent problems being faced by Euro zone. Specifically the objectives of the present study are: To explore the emergence of Euro; to analyse the rece
