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The ghost of price controls reappears in Venezuela with the rise in inflation

2022-12-02T23:25:49.415Z


The body that supervises businesses published a list of "maximum prices" for 42 food items in the basic basket


December began in Venezuela with adjustments.

The Government of Nicolás Maduro returns to use recipes discarded a couple of years ago and has announced this Thursday a new price control on 42 basic food items, but in this new stage the amounts have been set in dollars.

A kilo of chicken may not cost more than three dollars, a package of corn flour no more than 1.2 dollars and one of pasta up to 1.5.

Also included on the list are eggs, various cuts of beef and pork, beans, sugar, oil, canned tuna and sardines, among other basic necessities.

he déjà

vu

of the lines in the supermarkets and the worst years of food and medicine shortages, which precipitated the still persistent humanitarian emergency, have dizzy the conversations of this day.

The list of "maximum prices" of the "prioritized items" was disclosed by the Sundde, the body that monitors businesses on their social networks, where they assured that it was the result of the dialogue tables with the agro-industrial sector, although they later deleted the publication .

"From the Sundde we will ensure that the prices of these items are met for the benefit of our people," added the message, which comes after several days of verification days of the use of the official exchange rate for transactions in businesses in the country. although the exchange of dollars in parallel markets is no longer a crime, as it was for 15 years in Venezuela.

Maduro is trying to cope with inflation that has accelerated after coming out of the four-year hyperinflationary cycle that he came out of just at the end of 2021, the second longest in the world.

Despite the relaxation of controls that began four years ago, the current signs of economic recovery and the prospects for growth, the drag of inflation that the Government has contained with artificial measures has forced us to recalculate the outlook.

The variation in prices between January and April of this year was barely 3.9%.

Between May and October it has been almost 11.4%.

Annualized inflation already exceeds 155% and forecasts place it once again among the highest in the world by the end of 2022. About four years ago, Maduro had turned the helm of the economy towards the free market,

The minimum wage in Venezuela is 130 bolivars, which at the current official exchange rate is barely $11.55.

It is what pensioners and a large part of the public administration receive, more than 4 million people.

In recent days, the rise in the dollar has raised concerns on the streets and also among economists.

The bolivar devalued 43% during November, according to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory.

“We are in a very serious problem.

A currency that is devalued cannot imply that a country is well.

We are not fine.

The currency is being devalued and wages are destroyed”, has pointed out the economist José Guerra.

Although the Government had managed to inject foreign currency into the market to contain the price of the dollar,

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-12-02

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