http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-27/end-venezuela-runs-out-money-print-new-money
All of this brings us to today's latest update in the sad story of Venezuela's terminal collapse: today Bloomberg wrote a story that basically covers everything said above, noting that "Venezuela’s epic shortages are nothing new at this point. No diapers or car parts or aspirin -- it’s all been well documented. But now the country is at risk of running out of money itself."
Indeed, as we hinted three months ago, "Venezuela, in other words, is now so broke that it may not have enough money to pay for its money."
Among the new information revealed by Bloomberg is that last month, De La Rue, the world’s largest currency maker, sent a letter to the central bank complaining that it was owed $71 million and would inform its shareholders if the money were not forthcoming. The letter was leaked to a Venezuelan news website and confirmed by Bloomberg News.
"It’s an unprecedented case in history that a country with such high inflation cannot get new bills,” said Jose Guerra, an opposition law maker and former director of economic research at the central bank. Late last year, the central bank ordered more than 10 billion bank notes, surpassing the 7.6 billion the U.S. Federal Reserve requested this year for an economy many times the size of Venezuela’s.
Venezuela had prudently diversified its money printing relationships, and ahead of the 2015 congressional elections, the central bank tapped the U.K.’s De La Rue, France’s Oberthur Fiduciaire and Germany’s Giesecke & Devrient to bring in some 2.6 billion notes, Bloomberg adds. Before the delivery was completed, the bank approached the companies directly for more. De La Rue took the lion’s share of the 3-billion-note order and enlisted the Ottawa-based Canadian Bank Note Company to ensure it could meet a tight end-of-year deadline.
As we reported four months ago, the cash arrived in dozens of 747 jets and chartered planes. Under cover of security forces and snipers, it was transferred to armored caravans where it was spirited to the central bank in dead of night.
But while Venezuela was already planning its future cash orders, the cash vendors were starting to get worried. According to company documents, De La Rue began experiencing delays in payment as early as June. Similarly, the bank was slow to pay Giesecke & Devrient and Oberthur Fiduciaire. So when the tender was offered, the government only received about 3.3 billion in bids, bank documents show.
Which led to an interesting phenomenon: when it comes to counterparty risk, one usually has in mind digital funds or electronic securities. In this case, however, the counterparty risk involved cold, hard cash: "Initially, your eyes grow as big as dish plates," said one person familiar with matter. “An order big enough to fill your factory for a year, but do you want to completely expose yourself to a country as risky as Venezuela?"
As Venezuela's full implosion emerges, the answer has now become obvious, and companies are backing away. With its traditional partners now unenthusiastic about taking on new business, the central bank is in negotiations with others, including Russia’s Goznack, and has a contract with Boston-based Crane Currency, according to documents and industry sources.
We expect these last ditch efforts to obtain much needed paper currency for the hyperinflating nation will break down shortly, forcing Venezuela into one of two choices: do away with cash entirely and resort to barter, or begin printing high-denomination bills which in turn will only facilitate even faster hyperinflation as there will be no actual physical limit on how much something can cost; as of right now the very physical limit is how many 100 bolivar bills one can put on a wheelbarrow.
Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, who has studied hyperinflation for decades, says that to maintain faith in the currency when prices spiral, governments often add zeros to bank notes rather than flood the market.
“It’s a very bad sign to see people running around with wheelbarrows full of money to buy a hot dog,” he said. “Even the cash economy starts breaking down."
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