Eurostat publiceert langetermijn rentevoeten om convergentie van nieuwe EU-lidstaten te kunnen evalueren (en)

Today Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and the European Central Bank publish, for the first time, statistics on long-term interest rates for the ten Acceding Countries that will join the European Union on 1 May 2004.

At present, harmonised long-term interest rates are available for nine of the Acceding Countries. These interest rates will be used to assess the degree of convergence of these countries, as required under Article 121 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (the Treaty). Simultaneously, a separate interest rate indicator for Estonia is published. This indicator will be closely monitored and will be replaced as soon as a better indicator becomes available.

The interest rates¹ have been defined jointly by the European Central Bank, the national central banks of the Acceding Countries and Eurostat. At present, monthly series covering the period from February 2003 to February 2004 are shown. Monthly updates of these statistics will be posted on the websites of Eurostat² and the European Central Bank².

Under Article 121 of the Treaty, the convergence of long-term interest rates is one of the criteria for assessing the achievement of a high degree of sustainable convergence for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Article 4 of the Protocol on the convergence criteria annexed to the Treaty states that interest rates should be measured on the basis of long-term government bonds or comparable securities. The statistical framework for the Acceding Countries follows the same principles that were applied to the current EU Member States in the run-up to Stage Three of EMU.

For further details of methodology, see Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, Economy and Finance, 21/2004, "Long-term interest rates for Acceding Countries"

See for monthly data: Euro indicators - Long term government bond yields or

http://www.ecb.int/

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office Philippe BAUTIER BECH Building L-2920 LUXEMBOURG Tel: +352-4301 33 444 Fax: +352-4301 35 349 eurostat-pressoffice@cec.eu.int

For further information: Giuliano AMERINI Tel: +352-4301-34 122 Fax: +352-4301-32 929 giuliano.amerini@cec.eu.int Eurostat news releases on the Internet: http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat

Harmonised long-term interest rates for convergence assessment purposes*

(in % per annum; period averages; secondary market yields of government bonds with maturities of close to ten years**)

'	Feb 03	Mar 03	Apr 03	May 03	Jun 03	Jul 03	Aug 03	Sep 03	Oct 03	Nov 03	Dec 03	Jan 04	Feb 04
Czech Republic	3.81	3.75	3.92	3.73	3.49	4.06	4.23	4.26	4.47	4.75	4.82	4.68	4.80
Cyprus	4.83	4.83	4.80	4.63	4.63	4.59	4.59	4.59	4.64	4.75	4.75	4.75	4.79
Latvia	4.77	4.99	4.99	4.95	4.89	4.78	4.80	4.96	4.98	5.01	5.07	5.06	5.05
Lithuania	5.67	5.67	5.65	5.63	5.50	5.38	5.04	5.04	4.82	4.81	4.81	4.81	4.81
Hungary	6.34	6.41	6.33	5.97	6.33	6.86	7.11	7.06	7.08	7.82	8.24	8.36	8.65
Malta	5.51	5.40	5.25	5.14	5.11	4.95	4.78	4.73	4.68	4.70	4.71	4.71	4.70
Poland	5.66	5.52	5.41	5.12	5.03	5.37	5.61	5.93	6.36	6.90	6.76	6.67	6.82
Slovenia	6.65	6.65	6.65	6.65	6.65	6.65	6.65	6.65	6.16	5.54	5.27	5.14	5.01
Slovakia	4.92	5.01	4.90	4.72	4.70	4.80	4.92	5.02	5.08	5.36	5.42	5.16	5.11

Sources: ECB and European Commission.

* As Estonia has very limited government debt, there are currently no suitable long-term government bonds available on the financial market. See below for an interest rate indicator for Estonia.

** For Cyprus and Lithuania, primary market yields are reported. The same applies to Slovenia up to October 2003.

Interest rate indicator for Estonia*

(in % per annum; period averages)

'	Feb 03	Mar 03	Apr 03	May 03	Jun 03	Jul 03	Aug 03	Sep 03	Oct 03	Nov 03	Dec 03	Jan 04	Feb04
Estonia	5.59	5.30	5.36	5.03	4.97	5.04	4.84	4.79	4.90	4.86	4.75	4.69	4.77

Sources: ECB and European Commission.

* The current indicator represents the interest rates on new EEK-denominated loans to non-financial corporations and households with maturities over five years. This is understood to be the best available indicator at present. However, a large part of the underlying claims is linked to variable interest rates and the claims are subject to a different credit risk than government bonds.