The Belarussian Central Bank said Monday it will remove all 50-ruble notes from circulation by next year, as double-digit inflation in the authoritarian Eastern European country devalues the currency.
The banknotes will no longer be printed from Jan. 1, 2015, because of "the inexpediency of the further use of this banknote in cash transactions," the regulator said in a statement.
Fifty Belarussian rubles are currently worth about 0.4 cents, or approximately 18 kopecks.
The inflation rate in Belarus is one of the highest of any former Soviet Union countries. Consumer prices rose 17.9 percent in the first eight months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, according to figures published by the Belarussian National Statistics Committee last week.
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