Although a slim majority of Swedes support replacing the Swedish currency with the euro, the country has benefited from keeping the krona, the Swedish Trade Council said Monday.

The Trade Council estimates that Sweden has recorded some 30 billion kronor (2.7 billion euros) a year in net export earnings as a non-eurozone member.

"If the krona had been much stronger we would have had a faster economic downturn and a faster drop in employment," Mauro Gozzo, chief economist at the Swedish Trade Council, told broadcaster SVT.

SVT on Sunday presented the results of a survey it commission in early April that suggests a slim majority of voters support the introduction of the euro.

The survey conducted by polling institute SIFO suggested that roughly 47 per cent favoured introducing the euro while 45 per cent were against. The rest were undecided.

In a 2003 referendum, 56 per cent of voters said they wanted to keep the krona while 42 per cent favoured the euro.

The shift in opinion was partly linked to the current financial crisis and the decline of the krona compared to the euro, SIFO analyst Toivo Sjoren said.

Another factor Sjoren mentioned was that Swedes "have become more used to using the euro when we travel in Europe."

Sweden joined the European Union in 1995.

Prospects for a new referendum are unlikely. Only the Liberal Party, one of four in the ruling centre-right coalition, has called for a new referendum while other parties say there is no urgency.