In 2015, Venezuela ordered more than 10 billion banknotes to combat rising inflation. It was reported that De La Rue, a currency manufacturer in the United Kingdom, sent a notice of unreceived payment to the Central Bank of Venezuela. The money owed by Venezuela for the printed currency is reportedly $71 million. Venezuela is on the brink of economic collapse and disastrous policies have been widely blamed. Venezuela's leaders have failed to develop basic economic policies, including price controls and printing money to combat inflation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay In 2003, employees of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, SA went on strike, halting the oil production for several months. With the vast majority of export revenues coming from oil, Venezuela found itself cash-strapped. The value of the local currency fell, and then President Hugo Chavez decided that the solution to the problem was to fix the exchange rate between the bolivar and the US dollar. Even after the strike ended and oil production resumed, Chavez kept the exchange rate fixed and was maintained by his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Everything was fine as long as the price of oil remained high and revenues from oil exports flowed into the country. Then the price of oil collapsed in the summer of 2014. The massive drop in oil prices led to lower revenues and the Venezuelan government found itself cash-strapped again. This time, with the price of oil remaining low for the foreseeable future, it was a much bigger problem that would require a large-scale solution. Unfortunately for Venezuela, Maduro has done virtually nothing and the fixed exchange rate implemented by Chavez would have devastating effects on the country. With a constrained US dollar due to declining oil revenues, the value of the dollar increased and as a result the bolivar fell. It should be noted that this is what happened in terms of value on the black market. The artificially fixed price of the dollar and bolivar by Venezuela's fixed exchange rate inevitably created a huge black market where Venezuelans would pay large quantities of bolivars for a single US dollar. The black market exchange rate far exceeded the government exchange rate, leading to an influx of bolivars. Too many bolivars equaled higher inflation. At the end of 2016, the 100 bolivar note, which is the most used Venezuelan note, was worth around 2 cents. Rapidly rising inflation has made Venezuela's local currency worthless, preventing importers from purchasing essential goods. To make matters worse, Maduro instituted price controls on goods to combat rising inflation, and even threatened to jail retailers and suppliers if they hoarded or overcharged for their products. Basic economic principles tell us that price controls lead to either a shortage or a surplus. In this case, Maduro capped product prices to keep them affordable for consumers. As expected, demand increased and supply decreased. This has led to long queues at supermarkets suffering from severe food shortages. Amid all this, Venezuela printed billions of new banknotes in another failed attempt to slow inflation. Combined with a worthless bolivar.