Venezuela has been plagued by hyperinflation to remove six zeros from its currency

The bolivar will get rid of a few zeros. The Central Bank of Venezuela said Thursday, August 5, that the Venezuelan currency will lose six zeros on October 1 due to hyperinflation that has stripped it of its value. “From October 1, the digital bolivar will come into force when a new monetary scale is implemented that removes six zeros from the national currency.”, explains the Central Bank.

The Venezuelan economy has almost completely converted to the dollar in recent months. Most transactions are made in US currency, while inflation exceeded 250% between January and May. High inflation reached 400,000% in 2018, nearly 10,000% in 2019 and 3,000% in 2020. Once an oil-rich country, Venezuela has seen its GDP fall by 80% since 2013 65% of households live in poverty.

In 13 years, the bolivar will have lost 14 zeros, in a sign of successive devaluations imposed on the government. Former President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) deleted three zeros in 2008. His successor and current president, Nicolas Maduro, did the same in August 2018 by removing five zeros.

The state will be printing new banknotes to accompany the procedure as these notes have almost disappeared from circulation in the country. Most non-dollar exchanges are done digitally (card payments, wire transfers, or wire transfers). This decision aims to “easy” Use the money, and return it to Simpler monetary scaleThe central bank follows.