Venezuela: Central Bank adds 3 notes to monetary cone

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Venezuela’s three new banknotes began circulation in the monetary cone on Thursday, according to the country's Central Bank.

"Three new notes will be incorporated into the current family of monetary species as of June 13, 2019, in order to make the system more efficient of payments and facilitate commercial transactions," the Central Bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement underlined that the new of 10,000 ($1.60), 20,000 ($3.20) and 50,000 Bolivar ($8.10) bills would complement and optimize the current monetary cone to meet the requirements of the national economy.

The previous family of notes include eight bills of 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and 2 bolivars, in addition to coins for 1 and 0.5 bolivars.

Venezuela's economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil, the country's main export.

In August 2018, President Nicolas Maduro's government decided to drop five zeros off the national currency to help mitigate hyperinflation.

Estimates of inflation rates in May vary at ranges between 600,000% to over one million percent -- a record lows since 2018.

*Diego Camilo Carranza Jimenez contributed to this story from Colombia