Euro transition to be completed today

The transition to the euro will be completed at midnight tonight when the dual circulation period ends and the Maltese lira ceased to be legal tender.

A January 26 survey by Eurobarometer, the EU's statistics agency, had shown that 99 percent of retail payments were being made in euro.

Maltese lira notes and coins will continue to be exchanged at the banks until the end of March. After that they will only be exchanged at the Central Bank. Dual pricing continues until June.

The Malta lira goes back to 1972 when Malta had abandoned the British system of pounds shillings and pence and adopted the decimal system. The pound in Malta was renamed the Malta Lira in 1983. Until two years ago, when Malta joined the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism, the exchange value of the lira was calculated on the basis of a basket of currencies including Sterling, the dollar and later, the euro.