On January 1, 2008, the countries Cyprus and Malta became the 14th and 15th members of the euro zone.  This was the second round of accessions to the euro zone since the euro became the new legal tender of 12 European countries on January 1, 2002.  Previously, on January 1, 2007, the euro was adopted by Slovenia (the 13th member of the zone).  For more information please refer to the following press release from the European Central Bank: "1 January 2008 - Cyprus and Malta join the euro area" ( http://www.ecb.int/press/pr/date/2008/html/pr080101.en.html ).

A new Moody's Economy.com geography code has been created to describe the 15-member group:
IEZ15 Euro Zone (BE, CY, DE, IE, GR, ES, FR, IT, LU, MT, NL, AT, PT, SI, FI)

Accordingly, the IEUZN geography code has changed in definition.  It now represents IEZ11 up to 2000, IEZ12 from 2000 to 2006, IEZ13 in 2007 and IEZ15 starting in 2008.

For both countries, the euro (EUR) replaced the prior national currencies at an irrevocably fixed exchange rate.  (Hence, it's possible to compare statistics quoted in the prior currencies.)  Those rates are:

• Cyprus, 1 euro = 0.585274 Cypriot pound (CYP), 1 CYP = 1.70860 EUR
• Malta, 1 euro = 0.429300 Maltese lira (MTL), 1 MTL = 2.32937 EUR