When the lowest amount of currency you could possibly buy anything with is so high, why don’t countries
“condense” the value of their currency? For example, [12 eggs in Indonesia costs 25,544.06 Rp (their local currency)](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=11) why don’t they condense their currency so it only costs 4-5 units of currency? Wouldn’t it make the math easier for people?
In: Economics
The word for the kind of “condensing” you’re suggesting is [redenomination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redenomination). You’re asking “why doesn’t Indonesia redenominate their currency”.
Fundamentally redenomination doesn’t really solve any of the problems associated with the currency, you just call the problems something else. Like, *why* do things cost so much in the old currency in first place? Because there are more people wanting to buy those things than there are things to go around, causing them to bid up the price, perhaps? Are more things going to spontaneously pop into existence, or are people now just going to bid up the price in a different currency?
You also now need to print a bunch new bills and mint new coins to replace the old ones – which *is not free* – and the thought that all their savings are now worthless because they’re suddenly in the wrong currency tends to make the public, uh, a little panicky.
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