These criteria may sometimes seem to be rather superficial, but they are basic. For example, the Maastricht criteria require members of the European Union to maintain a deficit on their budgets of not more than 3 per cent of gross domestic product. Total government debt should not be more than 60 per cent of gross domestic product.
The rate of inflation in each participating member country should not be too far out of line with the average rate of inflation in all the participating member countries. These criteria are now being applied very generally across the board by many global fund investors when they assess the attractiveness of countries for investment purposes.