NEWS | Wednesday, 09 January 2008

Only 10% of Maltese currency converted until now – NECC

Charlot Zahra

More than a week after the euro was introduced as Malta’s official currency on January 1 this year, only around 10 per cent of the Maltese Lira notes and coins currently in circulation have been converted into euro.
A spokesperson for the National Euro Changeover Committee (NECC), which is overseeing the adoption of the euro in Malta, told Business Today yesterday that out of Lm245.8 million in Maltese Lira notes that are currently in circulation, only Lm26.9 million or 10.9 per cent have been converted till now.
The situation for coins is worse because out of Lm18.5 million in Maltese Lira coins that are currently in circulation, only Lm0.11 million or 0.6 per cent have been converted till now.
This means that Lm218 million in Maltese Lira notes and Lm18.39 million in Maltese Lira coins still need to be converted into euro by the end of the month, when the Maltese Lira ceases to be in circulation.
The NECC spokesperson told BusinessToday that until yesterday, around €141 million in cash had been issued via automated teller machines (ATMs) and across-the-counter transactions in banks.
Asked whether the NECC was satisfied with the amount of Maltese Liri that has been converted into euro till now and the reasons why, the NECC spokesperson told Business Today curtly: “The amount of money in circulation is not a realistic picture of the swiftness of the changeover.
“The metric is basically calculated on two counts: the first is the percentage of payments being made in euro, and secondly the percentage of change being given in euro.
“The latest results of the EU Commission survey published on Monday indicate that as at Saturday, 5 January, 73 per cent of the Maltese are paying exclusively in euro and 99 per cent of the of the change is being given in euro. This is indeed satisfactory. Only the Netherlands managed to reach a higher percentage from the 15 euro zone member states,” he opined. Asked whether the feedback the NECC was getting from the banks and other institutions showed that there were people who were still holding back from converting their money into euros or not and the reasons why, the NECC spokesperson conceded that there is a problem with this matter: “The statistics above surely demonstrate that there are still hoarded Maltese Liri that would need to be converted to euro.
“There is ample time however for this to happen – free convertibility of cash at banks has till the end of March, while that for notes and coins at the Central Bank of Malta till the end of 2018 and 2010 respectively,” he explained.
Asked whether the NECC estimated that all Maltese Liri coins and notes in circulation would have been collected by the end of January or not and the reasons why, the NECC spokesperson told BusinessToday: “No, there will definitely remain an amount of notes and coins to be collected after the end of January.
“Experience from previous demonetisations shows that return flows always extend beyond the end of the legal tender period,” he added.
This despite the fact that there has been a massive communications campaign coordinated by the NECC and the Central Bank of Malta to raise awareness about the introduction of the euro and the need to convert existing Maltese currency by the end of this month.

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