Eén week na de invoering van de euro in Slowakije (en)
The citizens of Slovakia have successfully passed the first week with their new currency- the euro. Six out of ten cash payments are now made in euro and a majority of people have mostly euro cash in their wallets.
Seven days after the euro became the currency of Slovakia, three quarters of the citizens have mostly euro banknotes in their wallets and more than 80% have mostly euro coins. Six out of ten customers paid in euro yesterday and virtually all of them received change in the same currency.
The preparedness of banks for the changeover passed a serious test on 5 January when many people returned from holidays and rushed to the bank to exchange koruna into euro for a total of €325 million resulting in a 100% jump in a total volume of cash withdrawn via ATMs if compared to normal times. ATMs were also challenged on 5 January when people withdrew 2.5 times more cash in value than on the same day of 2008. In total, between 1 and 6 January 2009, citizens made 100,000 more withdrawals from ATMs than in the equivalent period of 2008, adding in the process nearly €16 million more to their wallets. Slovak banks seem to cope rather successfully with the extra workload. Thanks to the meticulous preparations, waiting times in banks remained generally reasonable and only two out of ten customers reported that they had to queue.
Some shops in rural areas were more challenged, however, as pensioners were paying with high- denomination euro banknotes received for their pension payments via the Post offices. Local shops are often the only place to spend these banknotes, but since their access to banks is more difficult, they could run quickly out of cash. It is therefore very important that pensions and salaries are distributed primarily in low denominations euro banknotes.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso i is in the Slovak capital of Bratislava today to participate in a ceremony to celebrate the adoption of the euro. He is accompanied by Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquín Almunia i and by Ján Figel i, Education Commissioner and a Slovak national.
For detailed information on Slovakia's euro changeover and results of the related Eurobarometer surveys see:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/thematic_articles/article13563_en.htm
See also the Slovak national changeover website: www.euromena.sk
For more information on the euro and its benefits see DG ECFIN's website:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/our_currency_en.htm
See also the special 'EMU@10' website for the 10th anniversary of the euro:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/emu10/index_en.htm
A 10-year €2 commemorative coin:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/thematic_articles/article11072_en.htm
A documentary film on the euro: