diff --git a/src/subroutines/normalize_period.m b/src/subroutines/normalize_period.m
index c1807ca2798b0cee952b425165e8c53bb3632411..63d2507cfed6e698ac73ed9eb1d5db5496856906 100644
--- a/src/subroutines/normalize_period.m
+++ b/src/subroutines/normalize_period.m
@@ -30,6 +30,6 @@ function series = normalize_period(series)
 % along with Dynare.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 series.original_period = series.period;
-series.period = cellfun(@(x)datestr(datetime(x,'InputFormat','yyyy-MM-dd'),29),series.period_start_day, 'UniformOutput',false);
+series.period = series.period_start_day;
 series = rmfield(series, 'period_start_day');
 end