BOGOTA,
Colombia (AP) -- Venezuela said it will issue higher-denominated
bills as triple-digit inflation and a currency meltdown leave the
country's largest note worth just around 2 U.S. cents on the black
market.
The central bank said in a statement
Saturday that six new bills ranging from 500 to 20,000 Bolivars will
begin circulating on Dec. 15. Currently the largest-denominated bill is
100 bolivars, while a 2-liter soft drink bottle can cost 25 times that
amount.
The issuing of new bills comes as
Venezuela is bordering on economic collapse. The currency lost 67
percent of its value on the black market last month, falling to 4,587
bolivars per U.S. dollar - the steepest monthly plunge ever, according
to data by Dolar Today, which tracks the black market rate by monitoring
transactions with the currency at foreign exchange houses across the
border in Colombia.
Inflation meanwhile is
soaring and expected to surpass four digits next year, according to the
International Monetary Fund. Venezuela's government hasn't published
price data since 2015.
Adding to the currency
woes, cash has become impossible to find with ATM withdrawals capped at
an extremely low amount and on Friday the nation's credit card payment
system unexpectedly froze up for several hours.
President
Nicolas Maduro blamed the malfunction on a "cyberattack" and ordered
the Sebin intelligence service to raid the offices of CrediCard, which
processes payment for Visa and MasterCard. He's also accused "mafias" in
neighboring Colombia of trying to carry out an "economic coup" against
his socialist-run economy.
"The right wing
wants to impose on Venezuela a parallel exchange rate from an account in
Miami, and from that account take the dollar to a disastrously crazy
level," Maduro said in a televised address announcing the rollout of the
new bills.
The currency meltdown comes amid
what should've been a rare bout of good economic news for Venezuela
after OPEC last week ceded to months of pressure from Maduro and other
oil-dependent nations and decided to cut production levels for the first
time since 2008. Crude prices rallied the most in five years as a
result.
Venezuela has maintained strict
currency controls since 2003 and currently has two legal exchange rates
of 10 and 663 bolivars per dollar used for priority imports. On the
black market, where people and businesses turn when they can't obtain
government approval to purchase dollars at the legal rates, the bolivar
has collapsed by a factor of five over the past year.
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