2018-04-10 Tue

Venezuela was hit by an inflation of 2,600 percent in 2017. On 22nd March, it was announced that high denomination banknotes would be officially declared worthless. The notes which are currently in circulation were introduced 10 years ago. On 4th June, new coins and banknotes would be released and all existing currency will be demonetized.

A new currency named “bolívar soberano” will be introduced on 1st May. It is also called sovereign bolivar and will be written as “Bs.S.”. Three zeroes will be omitted from every denomination. The old 50,000-bolivar (Bs) note will be replaced by the 50-bolivar-soberano note.

Bs.S 2, Bs.S 5, Bs.S 10, Bs.S 20, Bs.S 50, Bs.S 100, Bs.S 200 and Bs.S 500 would be the new denominations. 50-céntimo and Bs.S-1 coins will also be introduced.

Experts believe that inflation has shot up after Maduro came to power in April 2013. At this rate, another re-denomination will be required in 20 months. Maduro claims that these problems have been caused due to domestic opposition and the United States.

Image Courtesy: Central Bank of Venezuela