In 2007 they had an average GDP per capita of 56.8% of the average level in the euro-zone (it was 28.2% in 1993). Although the process of income growth is present also in South Eastern Europe, its pace is slower. For the period 1996-2007, convergence was made to the income per capita in the countries of the euro-zone by 8.2 percentage points (from 20.8% to 28.9%). 2 What is clear from these  1  Source: World Economic Outlook Database, April 2008 and NBRM calculations. The indicator is unweighted average of GDP per capita of these countries. The indicators are according to the purchasing power parity. 2  Source: World Economic Outlook Database, April 2008 and NBRM calculations. The indicator for SEEU is unweighted average of GDP per capita of Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia (for 2000). The indicators are according to the purchasing power parity. BIS Review 74/2008  1  comparisons is that the achievements are huge, but also that much more remains to be done in order to reach the level of old EU members. Why the speed of real convergence of the new EU member-states and of the candidate and potential candidate countries is different, is one of the frequently discussed questions. Taking classical theory of growth as a starting point, income actually depends on the factors of production and technological growth, meaning that the reasons for the differences should be sought in these factors.
This is particularly troubling for the countries on a fixed exchange rate regime or currency board, which do not have the exchange rate flexibility as an instrument for handling inflation. Another part where there might be trouble is the exchange rate criterion. Now it is the floaters that could have bigger difficulties, particularly if the current developments continue and capital keeps to flow in these countries, thus making pressures for nominal appreciation. As far as the budget deficit criterion and the interest rate criterion are concerned, it appears that in these areas there will be less difficulties in fulfilling the Maastricht criteria, under the assumption there will be maintenance and strengthening of fiscal discipline. Of course, not all is bad and unreachable as far as Maastricht criteria are concerned. These countries are not giving up and they stand ready to increase their efforts in order to achieve their goals. While it appears that most transition countries have postponed their euro-zone entry a little bit due to the abovementioned difficulties, there are also two remarkable success stories from the transition countries. We already have Slovenia which has been in the eurozone since last year. In addition, we have Slovakia which got a positive opinion by the European Commission on fulfillment of criteria and is getting ready to adopt the euro in the beginning of next year.