Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has put on hold his government’s demonetisation move after violent protests over cash crunch. On Wednesday, the country had announced that it would withdraw 100-bolivar bills, the biggest denomination currency notes in the country. The president had earlier said the 100-bolivar note had to be scrapped because “mafias” were hoarding it abroad.
The announcement led to long queues outside banks, violent protests and looting. At lease one person died in the violence, reported Reuters. Maduro said the chaos was caused by his enemies abroad in their attempt to sabotage his campaign. He said that three planes that were scheduled to arrive in Venezuela carrying the new 500, 2,000 and 20,000-bolivar notes were delayed by the unrest.
About 40% of Venezuelans do not have bank accounts, and a large portion of the population do not know how to make digital transactions, the news agency reported. After the announcement, people took to the streets and held demonstrations against the government. Mobs looted stores, and the local police resorted to tear gas to bring the situation under control, AP reported. Maduro had said on Thursday that the new currency notes would soon be in circulation. However, the ATMs were reportedly issuing the old currency notes even after the announcement.
This comes over a month after the Narendra Modi government announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes will no longer be a legal tender in India. The prime minister said that the decision was taken to fight black money, corruption and currency counterfeiting.
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