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Market in Caracas: a total of eleven zeros deleted within three years
Photo: FEDERICO PARRA / AFP
In 2020 the inflation rate was 3000 percent, in the year before even 9600 percent: The central bank in Venezuela has now announced a drastic step in view of the ongoing hyperinflation.
From October 1st, six zeros will be deleted from all prices.
All sums in the national currency Bolivar "are then divided by one million," announced the central bank.
In May, the inflation rate was 2719 percent.
This is the second time in three years that the economically troubled South American country has acted in this way.
President Nicolás Maduro deleted five zeros in 2018 to simplify transactions and make accounting easier.
"The bolivar will be worth no more or less," the central bank justified its move with a view to the national currency.
"To make it easier to use, it will be brought to a simpler currency scale." The new digital currency, the "Digital Bolivar", will also apply from October.
The measure is significantly less relevant than the latest currency reform of 2019. At that time, Maduro had allowed the economy to be dollarized, which is why many transactions are carried out in the US currency.
Since then, product prices have largely been quoted in dollars, even if they are ultimately paid in bolivars.
fdi / Reuters / AFP