The Executive indicated the announcement – through its regulatory entity in commerce – with a publication on social networks in which it established how much flour, sugar, rice and other products should be sold for. The message raised a powder keg and, minutes later, it was deleted.
The specter of scarcity has awakened in Venezuela following the Government announced the return of price controls on more than 40 consumer productsa policy that in the past resulted in widespread shortage and that seeks, as before, to combat inflation and speculation.
Faced with an “alteration in the dynamics of prices”, the Executive came out – through its regulatory body in commerce – with a publication on social networks in which established how much flour, sugar, rice should be sold for and other products. The message raised a powder keg and, minutes later, it was deleted.
After that threat, the pro-government deputy Jesús Faría, president of the Parliament’s Economy and Finance Commission, confirmed that the Executive adopted “a set of decisions to establish maximum retail prices for more than 40 products,” without specifying which ones. items will be within this control or when the measure will enter into force.
In the opinion of the economist Litsay Guerrero, a researcher at the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (Cedice), the Government is trying to improve the perception of the population regarding its management of the rise in prices, which in November reached 21.9%, according to estimates independent.
With this announcement, the so-called Bolivarian revolution seeks to send “the signal that it wants to carry out actions that allow solving these problems. The thing is, this is not the way to solve them. (…) It is a problem that is not going to be solved by the fact that prices are controlled once more, ”he said.
a sleeping monster
Although the last few years saw the “disapplication” of price control, it continues to exist, since “there has not been a repeal” of the regulations that give effect to this policy, including the Law on Agreed Prices, created in 2017 Guerrero recalled.
“What we have is that sleeping monster that -at any moment- can wake up. Until now, it seems that it is looming, although there is nothing concrete, and what it generates, of course, is uncertainty,” he said.
This uneasiness is directly related to the history of controls that Chavismo implemented starting in 2003 and that have been tightening in the last decade, when the Government decided the price of numerous essential products and services, many of which were no longer available to consumers.
As a result of those policies, the most basic foods, medicines and personal hygiene items were in short supply in shopsin whose surroundings hundreds of people woke up every day in queues hoping to buy something.
These scenarios became common and intensified with massive inspections and arrests of managers of commercial establishments, especially between 2015 and 2018.
price hike
The return of control occurs in the midst of a price escalation, associated with the rise in the value of the dollar, which in the first 20 days of December increased by 42%, which has a direct impact on goods and services, calculated, for the most part, in the US currency.
Only between December 9 and 16, the price of a kilo of meat rose from 78 bolivars to 117 bolivars in a store in Caracas, which represents an increase of 50%.
The manager of the premises, Grecia Reinoso, said that it is unfeasible to impose the same price for all businesses, which have different suppliers and handle different amounts of merchandise -depending on the size of the establishment-, which causes their costs to vary.
Price controls “can create scarcity. There will be products that, at least we, the small businesses, will stop selling,” added the 27-year-old woman who, like all Venezuelans, still does not know when this measure will see the green light.