India’s largest banknote was 2,000 rupees, but it is being withdrawn, leaving the 500 rupee note as the largest. This is worth around 6 US dollars. Does anybody else (that isn’t in a hyperinflationary bubble) have a top banknote of such a low value or lower?
From yesterday’s Manchester Guardian:
“Argentina’s new 2,000-peso bill, the country’s largest-denomination note, went into circulation on Monday, though due to fast depreciation of the currency it is worth only $8.50 at the official exchange rate and just over $4 in commonly used parallel markets.”
Periodically some politician or similar type piece will champion the cause of removing “high denomination” $100 bills from circulation. It is to laugh, $100 doesn’t have much purchasing power.
The EU did just that recently and abolished the €500 bill, to make money laundering with cash harder. Now the €200 bill is the highest.
Over 10 years ago I was in China, and did a few days in Tibet. I assume at the time, beyond the larger cities, there was less trust among small businesses. I could pay the (mandatory) tourist agency with a credit card, then they arranged things like the tickets to venues and the hotel, usually with cash. When we were checking out, the guide paid the hotel in cash on our behalf from a huge wad of bills. 100 Yuan was about $14, so it took a decent number of those bills to pay a hotel bill for several days at the best hotel in Lhasa.
The largest Japanese note is 10,000 Yen, about $72. ($1 = 139 Yen approx.)
Largest Laos banknote is the 100,000 kip bill. It is worth $5.67 US.
Poking around, a lot of lower income countries have their largest banknote worth between $20 and $30 US. So while India’s 500 rupee banknote is worth less than is typical, it isn’t off the charts.
Odd. they just reissued all their larger paper money (500 and above) back in 2016. The alleged reason was to catch out those with hoards of banknotes from underground economic activity - not just criminal enterprises but mainly tax evaders. OTOH, as I understood it for the not-middle-class citizens, 2000 Rupees was more than a day’s wages. I recall the gie-away that any ATM had the scarce new notes at the time was that it was the only one with a queue in front of it. There was a severe shortage. Not so bad for us tourists with credit cards, but bad for some locals.
Plus, their move back then pushed the average citizen to electronic banking systems, because even the lower-paid people tended to own a phone.
Yes, it is still the largest backnote, and still about that value.
When I lived in China, there were at least a couple times where I needed to pay 3 months rent in advance, in cash. It was several towers of notes that took forever to count. AIUI, the point was to make it harder to take substantial sums out of the country.
Of course, by the time I left in 2021, it was basically a cashless society. If you wanted to shop somewhere with cash, it was best to ask first if it was accepted.
That’s just sad, really. I remember years ago, $100 bills were called “Alaska tens” because everything is proportionally expensive in Alaska. Clearly anyone who favors outlawing $100 bills hasn’t visited a grocery store in recent years. It’s the equivalent of a $10 bill in the 1960s, or near enough.
Pretty much:
$100 in April 2023 has the same buying power as…
$55.64 in Jan 2000
$42.00 in Jan 1990
$25.65 in Jan 1980
$12.46 in Jan 1970
$9.66 in Jan 1960
$7.75 in Jan 1950
All that said, some want to eliminate high denomination notes to make life harder for those, “pursuing tax evasion, financial crime, terrorist finance and corruption.” Making it Harder for the Bad Guys: The Case for Eliminating High Denomination Notes | Harvard Kennedy School
2010-2014 discussion: Why are there no bills large than a $100 bill? - #3 by Northern_Piper
During the postwar hyperinflation in Hungary, they had a note for 100 million billion pengö. Worth about $US 0.20 at the time.
Attempting to make meaningful monetary inflation comparisons over time is notoriously difficult, add to that the fact the government has a vested interest in minimizing the rate just seals the deal.
I’m not really persuaded by the argument that because bad people do bad things, we can’t have nice things.
I visited Laos in 2004 and in those days you needed to go into the bank to change cash dollars into Kip. The bank gave me various denominations including 500 kip notes and smaller. I literally filled a backpack with the money; I felt like I had robbed the bank as I walked out. When I got back to the guesthouse I decided I had no choice but to spread the cash out on the bed and lie on it - just to feel what it was like.
Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was a thing called Usenet forums. One of the first neat anecdotes I read about (on the intriguing subject of piles of cash) someone told the story of a friend, timeframe was in the 1960s or 1970s who was in the tedious process of tearing down an old farmhouse, way out in the hinterlands.
He said he was getting fuel at a rural gas station and his friend pulled up next to him in his car and motioned him over to look. Trunk was stuffed FULL of cash, large bills, apparently found stuffed in a wall of the farmhouse. He said he watched his friend drove away, and he never saw or heard from him again.
So on a tangent - Candian money changes fairly regularly, ever 10 to 20 years - slightly different hues, change in portrait or size of portrait(who’s the king or queen), the picture on the back, the framing or not, watermarks then holograms… Not sure how differently American money changes, it seems to be a lot more stable. But wouldn’t a bank raise an alarm if a person walks in with banknotes over 50 years old? Or too many started showing up in local businesses? Are they obvious, if you aren’t familiar with the signatures?
(When I went to Egypt or Tanzania, they appreciate US bills as an alternative to the local currency - but US money from before 2004(?) was discouraged because it was so much easier to counterfeit. )
My friend’s sister visited Turkey years ago and she was using her father’s ATM card to withdraw cash. The father talked to her on the phone and told her to stop taking out such small amounts because every withdrawal incurred a charge, but she explained that those “small” amounts were handfuls of bills.
Looks like the Lebanese pound/lira maxes out at LL100,000 and that’s $6.66 right now. Looks like that’s not currently the “winner” but with the way the economy goes we might have to revisit.
Federal Reserve notes going back to 1914 are fully legal tender, although they would invite scrutiny in any sort of quantity, I’m sure. Nice problem to have, I suppose.
Scrutiny in particular because many old banknotes may be worth more than face value on the collectibles market.