Brussels, 08/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The latest European Commission estimates published on Tuesday reveal that almost three-quarters of all cash payments in the eurozone are not in euros and the proportion is over 60% in all the participating countries. Despite the January sales having started in a number of countries (France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and parts of Italy), queues in shops are no longer than usual and waiting times in most banks have started to come down significantly. The Commission acknowledges, however, that the situation in some banks might become more strained in the days ahead as the students who have been helping out over the holiday period return to college.
The Commission notes that the buoyant consumer demand for euros, coupled with the very rapid return of national currency to banks and shops, is "tending to create bottlenecks in the availability of money transport facilities, with the priority naturally being given to distributing euros in order to avoid any disruption in trading". The Commission also reported that the volume of cashpoint withdrawals is back to normal in most countries and vending machine operators are speeding up conversion of their machines. While practically 100% of machines have been converted in the leading countries, the Commission says it may not be until the second half of January that a comparable figure is reached everywhere else.