Institutions in the Territory of the Republic of Latvia", the Bank of Latvia became the only central and issuing bank. It took over the ownership and structure of the USSR banks, Latvijas Republikānisko banku, and other state credit institutions. On 4 March 1992, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia passed the Law "On the Acquisition of the Bank of Latvia established in 1922". The Bank of Latvia's status as the central bank of the country and the issue bank was definitively consolidated by the laws of the Republic of Latvia "On Banks" and "On the Bank of Latvia" adopted on 19 May 1992. For the first time in Latvia, the independence of the national central bank from the government policy was ensured through legislation. The Law "On the Bank of Latvia" did not envisage its commercial activities, therefore, a decision was taken on the restructuring and privatization of 49 Bank of Latvia branches. Monetary policy strategy and exchange rate policy Like most central banks of the world, the main goal of the Bank of Latvia is to provide inflation at a certain level. After joining the European Union (EU), until its membership in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the Bank of Latvia was able to pursue its monetary policy, provided that it is in line with the common EU interests, does not harm the development of other EU Member States, and contributes to economic stability. Membership in the EU also envisages joining EMU and the euro. After joining the EU, Latvia had to demonstrate its ability to meet the EMU accession criteria. One of these criteria was the two-year membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II). Latvia joined it on 2 May 2005. ERM II means that at least two years before the euro changeover, the lats had been pegged to the euro and the exchange rate of the lats against the euro may fluctuate by no more than +/− 15% against the lats' pegging rate in euro. In order to achieve its main goal, as well as successfully entering the EMU, the Bank of Latvia implemented a fixed exchange rate strategy (EUR 1 = Ls 0.702804). Fluctuations around the fixed coupling rate are possible within +/− 1%. The Bank of Latvia had been implementing the lats attraction policy since February 1994, when the lats was pegged to the SDR basket of currencies. The lats