Alongside the bolivar redenomination, President Nicolas Maduro has announced other measures to tackle widespread poverty, including a massive 3,400% wage hike

CARACAS, Venezuela – New banknotes stripped of 5 zeros entered circulation in Venezuela on Monday, August 20, as part of President Nicolas Maduro's radical plan to curb hyperinflation, but business leaders branded the move as counterproductive. Most shops and businesses closed as Venezuelans reacted nervously to the issuing of the new "sovereign bolivar", launched to replace the oil-rich, cash-strapped country's crippled "strong bolivar". But Carlos Larrazabal, president of leading business association, Fedecamaras, said the measure would only "increase economic instability". Having been suspended for more than 12 hours on Sunday, August 19, electronic transactions resumed amid palpable uncertainty. "We're all in the same boat, waiting to see what will happen," Maria Sanchez, a 39-year-old shopkeeper told Agence France-Presse (AFP) after withdrawing some cash. Alongside the bolivar redenomination, Maduro announced other measures to tackle widespread poverty, including a 3,400 per cent hike in the minimum wage, the fifth such move this year alone. Mr Larrazabal said it "could devastate companies' already debilitated assets." Inflation that the International Monetary Fund predicts will reach one million per cent this year rendered the old bolivar currency practically worthless, while the economic crisis has driven more than two million people to flee the country, according to the United Nations. "Otherwise, they will have to answer to us," Mr Maduro said without explaining what punishment there might be. On the border with Brazil, the flow of fleeing people continued despite some 1,200 being driven back over the weekend in anti-migrant violence that got so bad President Michel Temer sent troops to the area to restore order. 'Rampant corruption'

"The Venezuelan people bear the tragic cost of the Maduro regime's rampant corruption and tyranny," tweeted US Vice President Mike Pence, adding that "recent moves will only make life worse for every Venezuelan." Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing the economic crisis in their home country have taken refuge in Colombia, which Maduro has also accused of sheltering his opponents. The embattled Mr Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, said the country needed to show "fiscal discipline" and stop the excessive money printing of recent years. In the capital, Caracas, residents were skeptical about the new measures, not least since former president Hugo Chavez slashed three zeros from the bolivar 10 years ago without halting hyperinflation. "Everything will stay the same, prices will continue to rise," 39-year-old Bruno Choy, who runs a street food stand, told AFP. Three of the country's leading opposition groups – Primero Justicia, Voluntad Popular and Causa R – have called for a general strike and day of protests on Tuesday, August 21. Government loyalist and president of the controversial regime-dominated legislature, Diosdado Cabello responded on Monday by announcing a "counter-march." One of Mr Maduro's most baffling reforms has been to anchor the new currency to the country's widely discredited cryptocurrency, the petro. Each petro will be worth about US$60, based on the price of a barrel of Venezuelan oil. In the new currency, that will be 3,600 bolivars - signalling a massive devaluation. In turn, the minimum wage will be fixed at half a petro - 1,800 bolivars, about US$28. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez insisted the reform programme would be funded "with oil income, with taxes and income from gasoline price hikes". Mr Maduro also announced a curb on heavily subsidized fuel in a bid to prevent oil being smuggled to other countries. Fuel subsidies have cost Venezuela US$10 billion since 2012, according to oil analyst Luis Oliveros, but without them, most people would not be able to buy fuel. More blows

The blows kept coming on Monday as US oil giant ConocoPhillips said Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA had agreed to make a $2 billion settlement to halt the seizure of its Caribbean assets. ConocoPhillips seized US$750 million of PDVSA assets in May after winning two international arbitration cases against Venezuela for the "unlawful and uncompensated expropriation" of its heavy crude oil projects in the country by Chavez in 2007. Earlier this month, a US court had also ruled that Canadian mining company Crystallex could seize shares in PDVSA's US-based subsidiary Citgo as payment for a US$1.2 billion debt. Now in a fourth year of recession, Venezuela has been hamstrung by shortages of basic goods such as food and medicine, and paralysed public services, including water, electricity and transport. Oil production accounts for 96 per cent of Venezuela's revenue - but that has slumped to a 30-year low of 1.4 million barrels a day, compared to its record high of 3.2 million 10 years ago.
The Venezuelan National Assembly supports and enforces a ruling made by exiled members of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, sentencing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to 18 years and 3 months in prison for a litany of charges largely related to corruption. The Maduro government calls the court "illegitimate".