Venezuela 100 Bolivares Banknote, Year 2013 – Face and Back
The banknote on the above top was issued in late 2013. The banknote above bottom was issued in late 2017. The denominations, bolivares, are the same.
The front and back images are the same. The top banknote is more beige in color and the bottom banknote is more yellow in color.
Both banknotes have the numeral 100 displayed prominently. The banknote on the right, however, adds the word “mil”, thousand, after the word “cien”, hundred. The banknote on the left is 100 Bolivares. The banknote on the right is 100,000 Bolivares.
At the time of issuance of the 100 bolivares banknote in 2013, it was equivalent to approximately 10 US dollars. So that means that, at that time, 100,000 bolivares would buy pretty much the same thing as would 10,000 US dollars.
At the time of issuance of the 100,000 bolivares banknote in 2017, it was equivalent to about 1 US dollar.
That means that, in December 2017, it takes ten times 100,000 bolivares, or 1 million bolivares, to buy what could be bought for 100 bolivares just 4 years ago, in 2013. Another way of saying this that the value of the bolivares has been divided by 10,000; or, yet another way of saying this, is that, the price of things to buy in Venezuela have gone up by a factor of 10,000, in 4 years. Life today is ten thousand times more expensive then it was 4 years ago. And, think of this, Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world. Why then, is it not among the richest nations of the world?
Said a man of old: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” This is natural Law. Hyperinflation occurs when men make a mess of things.
The birds illustrated on the back of our banknotes are Cardenalitos. They are native to Venezuela in Parque Nacional El Avila and found also in verly limited surrounding areas.