Timeline

• 27.08.1811
• Law on the issuance of emergency paper money in Colombian Pesos by the Supreme Congress of Venezuela; effective immediately
• 25.10.1811
• Law on the issuance of copper subsidiary coins of 1, ½, ¼, ⅛ Real (Real at 1'913⅓ Castiliane grains copper); not implemented
• 30.12.1830
• Rating of foreign specie coins against the circulating "macuquina" coinage, called Peso "Sencillo":
  - Peso Fuerte of 8 Spanish Reals in silver = 1¼ Pesos "Sencillos";
  - Doubloon of 8 Spanish Escudos in gold = 20 Pesos "Sencillos".
• 13.05.1834
• Law [No. 179] on the acceptance and rating of foreign gold coins; effective immediately.
  - 28.03.1835; Law [No. 185], amended the 1834 law with additional ratings; effective immediately.
• 29.03.1842
• Law [No. 466] on the issuance of copper subsidiary coins of 1, ½, ¼ Cent (Peso Fuerte = 100 Cents; Peso "Sencillo" = 80 Cents); effective immediately
• 30.04.1848
• Rating of foreign specie coins against the circulating "macuquina" coinage, called Peso "Sencillo":
  - Silver: Peso Fuerte of 8 Spanish Reals in silver = 1¹¹⁄₃₂ Pesos "Sencillos", 5 French Francs = 1¼ Pesos "Sencillos";
  - Gold: Doubloon of 8 Spanish Escudos in gold = 21 Pesos "Sencillos", 20 US Dollars = 26¾ Pesos "Sencillos", 20 French Francs (Gold) = 5 Pesos "Sencillos", British Sovereign = 6½ Pesos "Sencillos".
• 30.05.1848
• Law [No. 673] on the creation of the Venezuelan Franc in the French silver standard as unit of account; effective immediately
  - Issuance of coinage was not foreseen, the 1842 subsidiary coins remained in circulation at a rate of 1 Franc = 20 Cents.

Timeline

• 01.04.1854
• Law [No. 872] on the creation of the Venezuelan Peso (or Venezolano) in the French bimetallic standard as currency unit; effective immediately
  - Foreseen coin issuance (not implemented): 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 Peso (gold); 1, ½, ¼, ⅛, ¹⁄₁₆ Peso (silver); ¹⁄₃₂, ¹⁄₆₄ Peso.
  - The 1842 subsidiary coins remained in circulation as 1 Cent = ¼ Real = 1⁄₃₂ Peso, ½ Cent = ⅛ Real = 1⁄₆₄ Peso (copper).
• 23.03.1857
• Law [No. 1085] on the creation of the Venezuelan Peso in the French gold standard as currency unit; effective immediately.
  - Foreseen gold coin issuance (not implemented): 10, 5, 1 Peso.
  - 18.07.1857: Ordinance on the production of silver subsidiary coins of 5, 2, 1, ½ Real (5 Real at 11.5 grams silver 0.900 fine); effective immediately
  - 09.11.1857: Ordinance on the production of a copper subsidiary coin of 1 Cent; effective immediately.
• 09.07.1860
• Law [No. 1261] on the regulation of depositary and issuing banks; effective immediately.
  - 27.05.1896: Law [No. 6554] on banking in general (including issuing banks); effective immediately.
• 12.06.1865
• Law [No. 1488] on the creation of the Venezuelan Venezolano as national currency in the French gold standard as currency unit; effective immediately.
  - Foreseen coin issuance (not implemented): 20, 10, 5, 1 Venezolano (gold); 50, 20, 10, 5 Cents (silver); 1 Cent (bronze).
• 11.05.1871
• Presidential decree [No. 1741] on the creation of the Venezuelan Venezolano in the French silver standard as currency unit; effective immediately.
  - Foreseen coin issuance (partly implemented): 20, 10, 5, 1 Venezolano (gold); 1 Venezolano, 50, 20, 10, 5 Cents (silver); 1 Cent (bronze).
• 29.12.1871
• Ordinance on the rating of foreign specie coins; effective 01.01.1872:
  - Gold: Doubloon of 8 Spanish Escudos in gold = 16.80 Venezolanos, 20 US Dollars = 21.40 Venezolanos, 20 French Francs (Gold) = 4.10 Venezolanos, British Sovereign = 5.20 Venezolanos
  - Silver: Peso Fuerte of 8 Spanish Reals in silver = 1.075 Venezolanos, 5 French Francs = 1 Venezolano.

Valuation Regimes

• 1854-1879
• Metallic currency based on circulating gold coins

Timeline

• 31.03.1879
• Presidential decree [No. 2137] on the creation of the Venezuelan Bolívar in the French silver standard as currency unit; effective immediately and transformed into law [No. 3857] of 02.06.1887 and law [No. 4946] of 09.07.1891.
• 01.07.1879
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.07.1879: Start of issuance of the new coins (the 1871 coins remained current)
  - 25.10.1886: Demonetization of the foreign coinage (gold coins were declared commodity, the import of silver coins was prohibited).
• 24.06.1918
• Law [No. 12730] on the transition to the gold standard; effective immediately
  - 22.07.1941: Law [No. 22577], amending the 1918 law; effective 05.08.1941
  - 17.02.1954: Law [No. 24371] on the abolition of the gold standard; effective immediately
• 08.09.1939
• Law [No. 19974] on the establishment of the Central Bank of Venezuela with exclusive privilege for paper money issuance; effective upon constitution of the bank on 15.10.1940 (start of operations on 01.01.1941)
  - The notes of the private commercial bank remained valid and were gradually withdrawn under auspices of the Bank Supervision created by law [No. 20762] of 21.01.1940.
  - At the time, the following commercial banks were issuing: Bank of Caracas (est. 23.08.1890); Bank of Maracaibo (est. 20.07.1882; Bank of Venezuela (est. 02.09.1890); Commercial Bank of Maracaibo (est. 11.05.1916); Credit Bank of Venezuela (est. 04.06.1925); Farmers' Mercantile Bank (est. 15.07.1926).
• 23.07.1941
• Government decree on the institution of a multi-tier exchange rate system; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1879-1918
• Metallic currency based on circulating silver and gold coins (suspended on ??.??.1914)
• 1918-1941
• Fixed rate against gold, inoperative after 1929
• 1941-1983
• Fixed rate against US Dollar, official rate became inoperative on 28.02.1983
• 1983-2004
• Variable rate, highly inflationary
• 2004-2007
• Fixed rate against US Dollar

Timeline

• 06.03.2007
• Law [No. 38638] on the currency redenomination; effective 01.01.2008 by law [No. 38711] of 22.06.2007
• 01.01.2008
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.01.2008: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - 30.06.2008: Demonetization of the former currency.
• 2014-2018
• Multi-tier exchange rate system:
  - 10.04.2014: Central Bank resolution [Convenio cambiario No. 26] on the establishment of two parallel rates beside the "base rate"; effective 20.08.2014
  - 10.02.2015: Central Bank resolution [Convenio cambiario No. 33], on the adoption of the "free market rate I" as main rate, the "base rate" became inoperative; effective immediately
  - 09.03.2016: Central Bank resolution [Convenio cambiario No. 35] on the abolition of one of the 2014 parallel rates and the devaluation of the inoperative "base rate"; effective immediately
  - 13.05.2017: Central Bank resolution [Convenio cambiario No. 38] on the transition to the "free market rate I" as main rate; effective 30.05.2017
  26.01.2018: Central Bank resolution [Convenio cambiario No. 39] on the abolition of the inoperative "base rate"; effective 29.01.2018.

Valuation Regimes

• 2008-2015
• Fixed rate against US Dollar
• 2015-2018
• Variable rate, highly inflationary

Timeline

• 22.03.2018
• Presidential decree [No. 3332] on the currency redenomination at a rate of 1 : 1'000; effective 04.06.2018
  - 01.06.2018: Presidential decree [No. 3445] on the abrogation of the March decree (due to the rampant inflation); effective immediately
• 25.07.2018
• Presidential decree [No. 3548] on the currency redenomination at a rate of 1 : 100'000; effective 20.08.2018
• 20.08.2018
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 20.08.2018: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - The former notes higher than 1'000 Bolivar (2008) remained current.
• 20.08.2018
• Creation of the unit of account "Petro (PTR)", pegged to a basket of petroleum products, as stable reference for wages and prices (initially at 1 Petro = 3'600 Bolívars); abolished 06.10.2020.

Valuation Regimes

• 2018-2021
• Variable rate, highly inflationary

Timeline

• 06.08.2021
• Presidential decree [No. 4553] on the issuance of banknotes and coins with "a revised representation of the denomination"; effective 01.10.2021:
  - The official reading for the removal of six zeros is that no redenomination has occurred, and the currency code "VED" is not used in the Central Banks accounts and publications.

Valuation Regimes

• 2021-
• Variable rate, highly inflationary