At least half of Sweden's voters remained stubbornly opposed to joining the euro in two new opinion polls yesterday, but Prime Minister Goran Persson said his "Yes" camp could still prevail in Sunday's referendum.

One poll even showed the gap in favour of the "No" side widening slightly in the last 24 hours just when euro supporters urgently need to extend recent inroads into their opponents' commanding lead.

"My view is that the 'Yes' side will win the last week of campaigning. Whether that is then enough (to win the vote) remains to be seen," Mr Persson told business daily Dagens Industri.

Seven million people can vote on September 14 on joining the European Union single currency. Euro sceptics have led in all polls since April, though the gap has now narrowed slightly.

But a poll by GfK for Danske Bank and another by Temo for Dagens Nyheter newspaper gave the "No" side a lead of 11 percentage points, with 54 per cent and 50 per cent of votes respectively. The anti-euro lobby had advanced one point since the last GfK poll while the pro-euro side gained two points from the last Temo survey.

Campaigning has reached fever pitch in much of Sweden, with posters and pamphleteers out in force to catch the undecided, estimated at anywhere between two and 25 per cent of voters.

But a Reuters correspondent visiting the town of Arjeplog just beneath the Arctic Circle found that like many far-flung areas dependent on state funding, anti-euro sentiment was high.

"Brussels is too far away from Arjeplog. Stockholm is already far enough," said the frustrated pro-euro mayor of the town of 2,000 people, Bengt-Urban Fransson.

Swedes' reluctance to ditch their crown is largely based on fears of delegating policy to the European Central Bank and of pressure to lower taxes, endangering the generous welfare state. Many people also worry that prices will rise under the euro.

Sweden expects economic growth of up to 1.5 per cent this year, double that of the euro zone, and a small fiscal surplus, whereas Euroland risks having a deficit of over three per cent.