Venezuelan bolívar
The bolívar [boˈliβaɾ] is the official currency of Venezuela. Named after the hero of South American independence Simón Bolívar, it was introduced following the monetary reform in 1879, before which the venezolano was circulating. Due to its decades-long reliance on silver and gold standards, and then on a peg to the United States dollar, it was considered among the most stable currencies and was internationally accepted until 1964, when the government decided to adopt a floating exchange rate instead.
| bolívar venezolano (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
| ISO 4217 | |
| Code | VED (numeric: 926) VES (numeric: 928) ISO 4217 Standard definition:
|
| Subunit | 0.01 |
| Unit | |
| Unit | bolívar |
| Plural | bolívares |
| Symbol | Bs. or Bs.D |
| Nickname | bolo(s), luca(s), real(es) |
| Denominations | |
| Subunit | |
| 1⁄100 | céntimo |
| Banknotes | VED series: Bs. 5, Bs. 10, Bs. 20, Bs. 50, Bs. 100 |
| Coins | 25, 50 céntimos, Bs. 1 |
| Demographics | |
| User(s) | Venezuela |
| Issuance | |
| Central bank | Banco Central de Venezuela |
| Website | www |
| Valuation | |
| Inflation | 114.10% (2022) |
| Value | Official rate US$1 = Bs. 35,7247 (December 15, 2023) Parallel rate US$1 = Bs. 37.49 (December 15, 2023) |
Since 1983, the currency has experienced a prolonged period of high inflation, losing value almost 500-fold against the US dollar in the process. The depreciation became manageable in the mid-2000s, but it still stayed in double digits. It was then, on 1 January 2008, that the hard bolívar (bolívar fuerte in Spanish, sign: Bs.F, code: VEF) replaced the original bolívar (sign: Bs; code: VEB) at a rate of Bs.F 1 to Bs. 1,000 (the abbreviation Bs. is due to the first and the final letters of the plural form of the currency's name, bolívares).
The value of the hard bolívar, pegged to the US dollar, did not stay stable for long despite attempts to institute capital controls. Venezuela entered another period of abnormally high inflation in 2012, which the country has not exited as of April 2023. The central bank stuck to the pegged subsidised exchange rate until January 2018, which was overpriced so people began using parallel exchange rates despite a ban on publishing them. From 2016 to 2019 and again in 2020, the currency experienced hyperinflation for a total period of 38 months.
The rampant inflation prompted two redenominations. The first occurred in August 2018, when Bs.F 100,000 were exchanged for 1 sovereign bolívar (bolívar soberano in Spanish, sign: Bs.S, code: VES), and another one happened on 1 October 2021, but called "Nueva expresión monetaria" or new monetary expression, which removes 6 zeros from the currency without affecting its denomination but did introduce a new ISO code VED at a rate of Bs.S 1,000,000 = Bs.D 1, thus making Bs.D 1 worth Bs. 100,000,000,000,000 (1014, or Bs. 100 trillion in short scale).
Both currencies are in circulation, though the economy has undergone extensive currency substitution, so the majority of transactions happen in US dollars, or, to a lesser extent, the Colombian peso.