Jose Guerra, a former director of Venezuela’s central bank and now an Opposition lawmaker, said on Twitter that to switch out 100 bolivar notes in such a short amount of time, the central bank “must have an equivalent amount in notes of greater denominations”, which he did not believe was possible. President Nicolas Maduro during an hours-long speech said the 100-bolivar bill will be taken out of circulation on Wednesday and Venezuelans will have 10 days after that to exchange those notes at the central bank. “We must keep beating the mafias.”

Critics slammed the move, which Mr. Maduro said was needed to combat contraband of the bills at the volatile Colombia-Venezuela border, as economically nonsensical, adding there would be no way to swap all the 100-bolivar bills in circulation in the time the President has allotted. Venezuelans have only been given 10 days to exchange their 100-bolivar notes for new coins and bills ranging from 500 to 20,000 bolivars due to be introduced from 15 December. Inflation could hit 500% this year and 1,660% in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. On the black market, its value dropped by 55% against the US dollar just in the past month, and the International Monetary Fund estimates that next year's prices will rise by more than 2,000%. Who would possibly think of doing something like this in December amid all our problems?” two-time opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles wrote on Twitter, referring to the upcoming Christmas holiday. Mr. Maduro previously has said that organised crime networks at the Colombia-Venezuela border buy up Venezuelan notes to in turn buy subsidised Venezuelan goods and sell them for vast profits in Colombia.
Venezuela swaps its bolivar notes with coins in order to curb hyperinflation.