"There is some anecdotal evidence that use of the euro is increasing a little," says Leslie Gunde, associate director at the professional services firm, KPMG. "But there is no question that the move has been much slower than might have been expected."
Yesterday, the Lloyds TSB Business in Britain survey found that 63 % of British exporters were still not invoicing in euros -a fall of only 6 percentage points from last year's survey.
Fears of British suppliers that they would be forced by powerful UK clients into invoicing in euros have come to naught, or close to it, say business leaders.
Big business has shown little enthusiasm for bullying its suppliers without the impetus of imminent euro entry, they explain. Ian Fletcher, head of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, says: "Eurozone entry is not on the planning horizon for most businesses. At the moment it's just another foreign currency."
