Summary:

Ramona Rupeika-Apoga deals with financial globalisation on a minor scale, the intended integration of the Latvian monetary system into the European Monetary Union (EMU). She explains (i) the low share of domestic property titles for refinancing at the Central Bank of Latvia, necessary for a future membership in the EMU, and (ii) the corresponding high share of foreign currency on account of the strategy of the Bank that is based on a currency board (CBA) with fixed exchange rates of the lat, the Latvian currency, against five of the most important foreign currencies. As long as Latvia’s CBA works well, the author favours membership in the new European Realignment Monetary Zone, ERM II, over immediate entry into the EMU.