Cyprus consumers get more time for euro changeover

(NICOSIA) - Cyprus's parliament on Thursday approved legislation extending the period for displaying prices of goods and services in both euros and Cypriot pounds for an additional three months.

Cypriots will now be able compare prices until the end of December 2008 instead of September 30 as was originally planned. From the new year, the Cyprus pound will be consigned to history.

EDEK MP Marinos Sizopoulos had argued that the dual pricing period should be continued until June 2009, saying Cypriots were still calculating in pounds while trying to get to grips with the euro and its true value.

He said middle-aged and elderly Cypriots were finding it hard to think in euros for goods and services, putting them at the mercy of profiteers.

However, MPs decided that an extra three months would be enough and voted unanimously to extend the period until the end of December.

Cyprus joined the euro zone on January 1, and unlike most eurozone states, its old currency was worth more than its newly adopted one, with one euro being fixed at 0.585274 Cyprus pounds.

The finance ministry had said there was so no need to extend the dual pricing period as it has been in effect since last September in line with EU recommendations.

The ministry argued that the longer the pound was still visible people would remain attached to it, making it harder for them to adjust.