Redenomination of Venezuelan currency from Aug 20

The redenomination of Venezuela's national currency, the bolivar, will be in force from August 20 onward, the Official Gazette of the Venezuelan government has said.

It will eliminate five zeros from the current currency, the official statement said on Thursday, Efe news reported.

As part of measures to fight the "economic war", Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced in March a process of currency redenomination in which three zeroes would be slashed from bolivars.

Maduro, however, subsequently changed the measure and decided to eliminate five zeros from the bolivars instead.

The new currency to be used from Monday will have "sovereign" as its first name, a term that will be printed onto the new bills which will begin to circulate next week.

The government gazette dated August 14 but published on Thursday said that in a series of regulations the redenomination process will be established.

A new adjustment of "basic salaries and wages, as well as pensions and other benefits" which must be in line with the new denomination called "Sovereign Bolivars", will also take place, it added.

The gazette said that from August 20 all goods will be sold at new Sovereign Bolivars rate.

The denominations would be more adjusted to the soaring hyperinflation that analysts at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate will hit one million per cent by the end of 2018.

--IANS

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