Venezuela Orders Largest Bills Turned in Ahead of New Bank Notes

Take cash away from the citizens and, in theory, they can’t make a run on the banks and spark a full economic collapse.

Take cash away from the citizens and they can’t have full economic control over their own lives.

 

• Maduro says move to fight smuggling, currency attacks
• 100-bolivar bills must be out of circulation in 72 hours

Venezuela’s government ordered all 100-bolivar bank notes out of circulation within 72 hours, amid a hard cash shortage and the scheduled release this week of bigger bank notes.

Greek Banks To Run Out Of Physical Cash “In A Matter Of Days”

Over the past several weeks we’ve documented the acute cash crunch that’s crippled the Greek banking sector and ultimately brought the country to its knees.

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As the crisis unfolded and Athens’ negotiations with creditors became increasingly contentious, Greek banks began to bleed cash. Eventually it became clear that the banks were relying entirely on the Eurosystem to meet outflows.

Meanwhile, banknotes in circulation surged, as cash usage jumped 44%, prompting Barclays to note that “the amount of banknotes in excess of the quota for Greece represents a liability of the BoG to the Eurosystem.” Essentially, we said, Greece was quietly printing billions of euros.

Now, with the ECB holding steady on the ELA cap and the banking system still hemorrhaging deposits despite the imposition of capital controls, Greek banks are running out of cash — literally.

Russia ‘printing money for Syria’ claims report

Russia is printing bank notes and sending them by the plane load to Syria to help the besieged regime pay its soldiers and civil servants, a new report suggests.

Flight records obtained by the investigative website ProPublica showed that at least 120 and up to 240 tons of bank notes were delivered during a ten-week period between July and September.

On eight round-trip trips between Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and Damascus international airport, the “Type of Cargo” is listed as “Bank – Notes (30 Ton)”. Neither their denomination nor value was specified however.

Seven of the eight Syria Air flights were confirmed through international plane-tracking services, photographs from amateur plane-spotters and official air traffic control records.

Each manifest detailed a circuitous route over Iran and Iraq, countries that are friendly to the Syrian regime, rather than the most direct route over Turkey, which has become a foe of President Bashar al-Assad.