It was, therefore, not surprising that the government’s commitment to prepare Greece for the satisfaction of the Maastricht criteria in 1999 and membership of the Euroarea by 2001 (2 years after its creation) was received with disbelief by almost all foreign and domestic observers.
From the beginning of 1994, when the new stability oriented policy was initiated, a managed exchange rate was a key policy plank in the stabilization process and contributed importantly to disciplining economic agents and setting in motion wage and price restraint, which brought the rate of inflation down to some 2% on average in the twelve months to early 2000 thus making possible our Euroarea membership.