CARACAS--Venezuelans hastily dumped the country's 100-bolivar bill, the largest denomination, on Monday after the government said it would be pulled from circulation as the crisis-wracked nation suffers what is believed to be the world's highest inflation.
Socialist President Nicolas Maduro said the withdrawal of the bill - worth just 2 U.S. cents on the black market - was needed to reduce contraband of the banknotes on the Venezuela-Colombia border. The 100-bolivar note will be removed in 72 hours as of Tuesday, state media said on Monday, with new, higher-denomination bills due on Thursday.
Despite heavy printing of the 100-bolivar bills - 2.3 billion this year alone out of 6.1 billion in total - they are in short supply. Moreover, Venezuela's shaky telecoms network means card readers often collapse.
Luis Volcanes, 36, had for six weeks withdrawn cash every day but on Monday ran around with a big brown envelope trying to deposit that same money, only to find cash machines at four banks in a row were not working. "This seems crazy, like the government did this on a whim. I don't know what I'm going to do," Volcanes said as people trickled in and out of a bank in Caracas, complaining none of the machines worked.
One man unable to deposit money yelled, "This is total chaos!"
Adding to the aggravation, Monday was a bank holiday, meaning there were no tellers. Venezuelans have 10 days to exchange the notes at the central bank.
While many business were not accepting 100-bolivar bills, or warning they would only do so on Monday, poor people living day to day could not afford to reject cash. "I'll take everything you can give me to eat today," said taxi driver Jose Manuel Henrique, 49, whose cash income goes entirely to feeding his two children. Still, Henrique, a former supporter of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, was annoyed. "The government can't get anything right. This wasn't thought out."
