BOV said that at the close of business on Wednesday, it had sold or received orders for over 11,000 retail euro starter kits.

“The response from the business community has been outstanding – a clear indication that people are now actively preparing for the adoption of the euro as Malta’s currency as from 1 January,” said John Cassar Torreggiani, executive head responsible for the euro changeover programme at Bank of Valletta.

Mr Cassar Torreggiani said the bank was expecting a similar strong response from the public as from Monday when the euro starter kits for the public will start to be sold from all BOV branches.

“We are aware that there is a lot of interest among the public to purchase these starter kits which contain the Maltese euro coins,” added Mr Cassar Torreggiani.

Mr Cassar Torreggiani took the opportunity to remind the public that all bank accounts denominated in Maltese lira, including overdraft and loan accounts, will be automatically converted to euro, free of charge, on 1 January at the irrevocably fixed conversion rate (0.4293).

“The best way for people to ensure that they have smooth currency changeover, therefore, is to ensure that they deposit all their surplus Maltese lira banknotes or coins, well prior to 1 January, 2008,” concluded Mr Cassar Torreggiani.