Cyprus on final countdown to Eurozone

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NICOSIA, Dec 31 (Xinhua): With just hours to go before the legal tender changeover from Cyprus pound to the euro on January 1, authorities and citizens on the eastern Mediterranean island seem well-prepared to embrace the single currency.
In the past weeks, security vans escorted by police have travelled frequently between the Central Bank of Cyprus in the capital Nicosia to local commercial banks, delivering brand new euro bank notes and coins.
Cypriots, especially shop owners have obtained euro coin starter kits from bank branches, since all changes should be made in euro instead of Cyprus pound since the New Year's day, though the latter can be circulated along with the euro till the end of January.
Markets and banks have been displaying prices in both pound and euro for the past three months to help consumers get used to the new scale of values, while the ministries of finance and commerce are closely monitoring price developments.
The government plans to name and shame those who try profiteering from euro adoption by publishing a list of their names on a weekly basis, local media reported.
On the benefits of Eurozone membership, Finance Minister Michalis Sarris has stressed that it would provide an opportunity to further consolidate fiscal policy and reduce public debt.
The changeover will bring important benefits to households, consumers and enterprises since the Eurozone is an area of low inflation, low interest rates and a vast market where transparency prevails over prices of goods, Sarris added.
He also said that as a result of the euro adoption, Cyprus will attract more foreign investment, and thus encouraging technological advancement, raising productivity and increasing high quality employment opportunities.
Cyprus joined the European Union (EU) in May, 2004. It is one of the smallest economies in the Eurozone, contributing 0.17 per cent to the area's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 0.24 per cent to its population.
In 2006, Cyprus' per capita GDP was 92 per cent of the EU average.
If the accession to the EU could be considered as the beginning of the country's political integration with the 27-member bloc, the Cypriot government believes that by entering the Eurozone, the easternmost island to the European continent could get closer to the EU in terms of economy.
To mark the adoption, celebrations are scheduled at midnight both in the ministry of finance and in the central bank, with the participation of President Tassos Papadopoulos and foreign envoys in Nicosia.
Papadopoulos, who will run for a second term in presidential elections in February, has also voiced that the introduction of the euro would have a positive fallout in efforts to reunite the divided islands, with the northern part of Turkish Cypriots still using Turkish Lira.
"We are optimistic that the adoption of the euro will create more favourable conditions leading to a solution that will actually reunite Cyprus, its economy, territory, institutions and society at large. Any solution cannot but provide for a unified economy," he said.
Under the decision adopted by EU finance ministers earlier this year, the exchange rate will be 0.585274 Cyprus pound to one euro.
The adoption of the euro by Cyprus and Malta, two island states of the EU, will bring the number of Eurozone members to 15, with an estimated population of 318 million.
Britain, along with Denmark, have opted to stay out of the Eurozone for the time being. However, two British military bases retained in southern Cyprus will embrace the single currency on January 1, ahead of their euro-skeptical countrymen at home.