BUCHAREST, Nov 5: Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Monday that his country would miss a 2015 target for joining the eurozone, but remained committed to adopting Europe’s single currency once the conditions were appropriate.

“The 2015 deadline for entering the eurozone is not cast in stone,” Ponta told reporters.

He added however that the Balkan country would continue to make every effort to meet conditions for adopting the euro as laid out in the EU’s Maastricht Treaty.

“It is crucial to observe the convergence criteria, among other things to keep inflation and the public deficit under control,” Ponta stressed.

To join the eurozone, a country must meet five criteria, including a public deficit of less than 3.0 per cent of the nation’s output and a low inflation rate.

Ponta’s remarks came after Romanian central bank governor Mugur Isarescu told the New York Times that the goal of adopting the euro in 2015 was now “out of the question.”

The prime minister also said that Romania planned to extend its current stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union beyond March 2013, when it expires.

In May 2009, Romania obtained a rescue package worth 20 billion euros ($24.7 billion) from the IMF, the EU and the World Bank in exchange for drastic spending cuts.

In March 2011, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU)  agreed to provide a fresh credit line of 5.0 billion euros, to be drawn down only in case of emergency.

A team of the International Monetary Fund and the EU auditors is expected in Romania on Tuesday to discuss the country’s economic progress, a month a head general elections. —AFP