A survey in March among members of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise on business preparedness for euro adoption has shown that 96 per cent of respondents had already started their preparations for the changeover.

Of the 96 per cent, 33 per cent had already started adjusting their IT systems and point of sale machines; 24 per cent have made dual display preparations; 14 per cent have provided training to employees; 13 per cent have assessed the local legislation and guidelines on the euro; 10 per cent had applied to participate in the FAIR initiative and six per cent had carried out market research on pricing in other eurozone countries.

The results were given by chamber director-general Kevin J. Borg at a news conference that was also addressed by chamber president Victor A. Galea, National Euro Changeover Committee (NECC) chairman Joseph F.X. Zahra and NECC executive director Alan Camilleri.

Mr Galea said the chamber felt it had to lead by example, and that although it only provided services to business and not to consumers, it was of the opinion that it had to show that it also complied with certain principles of best practice, even on the changeover.

Mr Borg said the results also showed that 90 per cent claimed they were not experiencing any problems with IT adjustments as a result of the changeover.

Although the response rate to the survey was a modest 12 per cent of the chamber membership, the sample size was in line with the normal trend of chamber surveys and considered to give a reliable indication of the situation.

The chamber director-general said that 60 per cent of respondents claimed to be “reasonably informed” on the aspects of euro changeover, with 36 per cent saying they were “very well informed”. Another encouraging result was that 80 per cent of respondents said that the guidelines issued by the authorities were “very clear, simple and conducive to compliance”.

Malta is now considered to be the second new entrant into the eurozone after Slovenia, which was reported to have had a positive changeover experience last January.

Only 13 per cent envisaged a situation of higher inflation generally due to the fact that the euro is lower in value to the Maltese lira, rendering a psychological effect of high prices as well as some concern that the rounding process will be abused. Another 11 per cent envisaged a more critical situation, which they attributed mainly to political spin.

Opinions on whether euro adoption in Malta will create new business opportunities were split right down the middle with a clear-cut 50-50 result. On the one hand, half of the respondents said that opportunities would arise irrespective of the introduction of the currency, whereas on the other hand, half claimed that the euro would render certain projects – particularly those involving e-commerce – more attractive.