On January 1, 2008 the national money, the Venezuelan Bolivar, will go through a currency change to the new Bolivar Fuerte which will take three zeros from it's current value.

I will attempt to summarize in English from the information provided by Venezuela's Central Bank how this will affect tourists and investors here in Venezuela.
For a complete version in Spanish you can download the PDF file at http://200.74.218.61/comunicados/aviso140307.pdf .

The main principal of this process will be to eliminate three zeroes, 000, from all current coins and bills. As an example a Bs.50.000 bill will now be Bs.F.50.

On Oct. 1, 2007 stores and businesses will be obliged to show prices in both the current Bolivar and the Bolivar Fuerte. The actual use of the Bolivar Fuerte will be on January 1, 2008. This initial dual pricing is being done to get people accustomed to the new prices.

Here is a breakdown of the new currency

For Images of the new Bolivar Fuerte CLICK HERE!

If you have money in Bolivars in a Venezuelan bank it will automatically be changed into Bolívares Fuerte on January 1, 2008. If you have regular Bolivars left over from a previous trip you can use them up to June 30, 2008 or readily change them into Bolívares Fuerte at any bank even after June 30. If you have an existing contract, say for apartment rental, etc., in regular Bolivars then it will automatically revert to Bolívares Fuerte starting on January 1, 2008.

Any tourist visiting Margarita Island in 2008 will not be affected by this change. The money you will receive when you change your dollars, etc will be the new currency.
The official exchange rate of Bs.2150 to US$1 will simply change to Bs.F. 2.15 to US$1.
The black market rate will also adjust with 3 zeroes less.

If anyone has any questions or doubts about these changes just send me an e-mail and I will try & answer them.