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EU says euro adoption runs smoothly in Slovakia |
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09:08, January 06, 2009 |
The European Commission said on Monday that the changeover to the euro in Slovakia is taking place smoothly.
By the end of Saturday some 27 percent of payments in shops were made in euro and virtually all customers were getting their change in the single currency, according to the European Union (EU)'s executive arm.
The changeover is progressing steadily with nearly half of citizens polled saying they had mostly euro in their wallets at the close of business on Saturday.
Early indications show the number of cash payments in euro increasing at shops on Monday, from 27 percent on Saturday, as shops increasingly give change in Europe's common currency and Slovakia's old currency koruna is progressively withdrawn.
The period during which the euro and the koruna will continue to circulate alongside each other will end on Jan. 16.
No major problems have been encountered. By Saturday, all banks had successfully finalized the conversion of their IT systems and around a third of bank branches stayed open at the weekend to offer a currency exchange service.
Retailers were coping well with the changeover process especially as people were only slowly coming back from holidays.
Slovakia became the 16th EU country to adopt the euro in the new year. Now there are nearly 329 million Europeans including some 5.4 million Slovaks who share the single currency.
Source:Xinhua
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