Croatia will be the latest EU country to adopt the euro and enter the Schengen region without a passport when the new year officially begins in a few hours.
The four million-strong Balkan nation will abandon the kuna at the stroke of midnight on January 1 2023 and become the 20th member of the eurozone.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, which increased the price of commodities like food and oil, analysts believe Croatia's economy will be protected by adopting the euro.
Additionally, it will join the Schengen Area as its 27th member, making it the largest region in the world where travelling without a passport is possible for approximately 400 million people.
Even if the changes are being made, Croats do not all agree with them.
While many people are pleased to see border controls removed, others are worried about the switch to a single currency, with those on the right arguing it would primarily benefit strong countries like Germany and France.
In Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, 63-year-old retiree Drazen Golemac anticipated that the kuna would fall and prices would soar.
Sandra, his wife, thought the euro was superior even though he believed the dollar to be more valuable.
There's no need to anticipate any changes on January 1, as stated by clerk Neven Banic, as everything has been calculated in euros for the previous twenty years regardless.
Croatian officials have defended their nation's decision to join the eurozone and Schengen, with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic referring to them on Wednesday as "two strategic aims of a greater EU integration."
In 2013, the country of Croatia, which had achieved independence from Yugoslavia in the 1990s, was admitted to the European Union.
There, the introduction of the euro has already had a big effect.
The majority of bank deposits in Zagreb are in euros, as are the majority of its commercial partners.
In the past, Croatians have demonstrated a lack of confidence in their national currency by valuing the euro higher when estimating the value of their most valued items, such as their homes and automobiles.
The president of the Croatian National Bank (HNB), Ana Sabic, told AFP that "the euro gives [economic] stability and safety" in a statement.
Croatia's inflation rate reached a record high of 13.5% in November.
The Balkan country is joining the eurozone at a time when the bloc itself is in disarray as the European Central Bank (ECB) seeks to control inflation after spending the previous ten years releasing huge stimulus to resuscitate growth when it was sluggish.
In a recent interview with the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list, ECB President Christine Lagarde expressed concern that inflation might persist as a result of "internal factors that we are witnessing," the majority of which are connected to fiscal policy and wage trends.
Lagarde stated that the bank must "take the necessary measures" to lower inflation from its current rate of nearly 10% to 2% despite making no fresh policy recommendations.
According to Lagarde, assuming there are no more shocks, the bloc's predicted winter downturn brought on by increased energy costs is likely to be temporary and moderate.
The thriving tourist sector, which contributes 20% of Croatia's GDP and will be significantly boosted by Schengen membership, is the nation's largest economic sector.
Airport border inspections, however, will end on March 26 due to technical issues.
Croatia will maintain tight border controls along its eastern border with its non-EU neighbours Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia.
Keeping illegal immigration from crossing the 1,350-kilometer-long EU's longest external land border continues to be a top security priority (840 miles).