Venezuela devalues currency and raises minimum wage by 3,000%

Caracas shears five zeros from bolivar, which will be pegged to new cryptocurrency

Venezuela moved to shore up its crumbling economy on Monday, devaluing its currency and preparing to raise the minimum wage by more than 3,000% in what the country's president, Nicolis Maduro, declared a visionary bid to tame rampant hyperinflation.

More than 500,000 Venezuelans have fled overseas this year amid chronic shortages of food and medicine, soaring crime and warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that inflation could hit 1m% this year.