territories in Cyprus will have the same currency as the Republic of Cyprus. These are the only places under British control where the euro is legal tender. They do not issue separate euro coins. Following the British vote to withdraw from the EU in June 2016, Ioannis Kasoulidis, Foreign Minister of Cyprus, announced that Cyprus wished to have EU citizen privileges remain for these areas if the UK ceases to be a member. Gibraltar The currency of Gibraltar is the Gibraltar pound, issued by His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar. Unofficially, most retail outlets in Gibraltar also accept the euro, though some payphones and the Royal Gibraltar Post Office, along with all other government offices, do not. Clearing London is home to three-quarters of all euro clearing in the world, to a value of €927 billion (2017 figure). The second largest hub is Paris, which operates 11% of clearing. In light of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the EU is looking at whether these operations should be forced to move from London to within the EU so the activities could be regulated by the European Central Bank. The European Union agreed to prolong until June 30, 2025 permission for Britain's clearing houses to continue serving customers in the EU. But officials say that it is the final extension. Exchange rate In June 2003, Brown stated that the best exchange rate for the UK to join the euro would be around 73 pence per euro. On 26 May 2003, the euro had reached 72.1 pence, a value not exceeded until 21 December 2007. During the final months of 2008, the pound declined in value dramatically against the euro. The euro rose above 80 pence and peaked at 97.855 pence on 29 December 2008. This compares with its value between March and October 2008, when the value of the euro was about 78 pence, and its value of about 70 pence between April 2003 and August 2007. With the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 on the British economy, including failing banks and plunging UK property values, some British analysts stated that adopting the euro was far preferable to any other possible solutions for Britain's economic problems. There was some media discussion about the possibility of adopting the euro. On 29 December 2008, the BBC reported that the euro had reached roughly 97.7 pence, due to poorer economic forecasts. This