Aussie Y2K bill may reach $A10b

By Greg Ansley

CANBERRA - Australia's corporate Y2K bill is expected to reach $A10 billion by the end of the year - equivalent to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product..

Much of this massive spending will be completed by September when, according to the National Australia Bank, more than 90 per cent of the nation's non-farm businesses will be Y2K compliant.

All believe they will be compliant by December. However, the bank's latest quarterly millennium bug survey shows that progress has slowed in the past three months.

In the previous survey, 57 per cent had said they expected to be compliant by the end of June. This figure had since fallen to 40 per cent, despite widespread recognition of the risks.

According to the survey, 84 per cent of Australian firms are affected by the Year 2000 problem. Exposure is high across all industries and sizes of firms.