Venezuela’s new currency is already looking like a disaster

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rolled out a new currency Tuesday, stripping five zeroes off the old “strong bolivar.” The move was intended to ease the country’s crippling economic woes, but instead it left businesses confused, and did nothing to address underlying problems. In radical changes outlined by Maduro last week, the “strong bolivar” was replaced with the “sovereign bolivar,” devaluing the currency by about 90 percent. The value of the new currency will be pegged to the petro, the state-backed cryptocurrency Venezuela launched in February, which the U.S. has banned American individuals and entities from trading. More…