Racing to keep up with hyper-inflation which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts will hit 1,000,000 percent this year, the Venezuelan government said it will knock five zeros off its currency, the bolívar — not the three it had previously planned. In a televised address, President Nicolás Maduro said the new bank notes would start to circulate from August 20. The government had previously planned to reform the currency in June but has postponed the plan twice. Even after the new bills come into circulation, they will not be worth much. At the current rate of inflation, which the opposition-controlled National Assembly, or Congress, estimated at an annualised 46,305 percent in June, the highest denomination bill would be worth only $6 by the end of August. By the end of this year, it would be worth 20 cents. “Taking zeros off the currency doesn’t improve people’s salaries,” said Ángel Alvarado, an economist and opposition member of Congress. “It also doesn’t stop price rises.”