Venezuelan government forces retailers to slash prices
By William Neuman, CARACAS, Venezuela — The New York Times News Service, Nov. 15 2013

The transportation minister appeared on live television from an auto-parts store, trumpeting prices that had been slashed in half, at least. A top regional official, broadcasting from another shop, boasted that prices of toys and other goods had been cut to the bone. From an appliance store, the commerce minister called on shoppers to buy washers and dryers at new, low-low prices.

This week, the entire Cabinet of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has been waging a battle against soaring inflation like a socialist version of Crazy Eddie, the onetime electronics chain store famous in New York for its goofy 1980s ads that trumpeted its “insane” prices.

It is all part of a fever-pitch campaign to quell frustration with the economy by forcing retailers to slash prices [....]

Venezuelans muse on economic woes that make milk scarce but fridges a steal
Only high oil prices keep currency and price controls going but black market and corruption are raising pressure on Maduro

By Virginia López in Caracas, The Guardian, 15 Nov. 2013

[....] "Living here is like a cartoon," Becerra says. "Most of us can't find milk to drink, let alone to produce, and the president's best plan is to lower the prices of TVs."

She was referring to president Nicolás Maduro's recent moves to get shopkeepers to slash their prices. Maduro has spoken of jailing retailers, criticising the "speculation and usury" that he blames for Venezuela's economic woes.

But concerns are mounting that his actions are just treating the symptoms, not the causes of Venezuela's sudden financial lurch, and that although it might give his citizens a nice cheap early Christmas, the new year hangover threatens to be painful.

"It's a slap in the face to be told this is socialism and to see the government hand out electronics while most of us struggle to find food. There is no long-term plan," said Becerra.

Venezuela's economic wobble stems from strict currency and price controls imposed by the former president Hugo Chávez. Despite years of high oil prices, the distortions that these have caused in the economy have led to shortages, difficulties for local industries that are not oil-related and a flourishing black market laced with corruption.

The tell-tale signs of distress are multiplying. Queues outside grocery stores proliferate. Absurdly, the shops lack local staples – sugar, milk, flour – but are well stocked with subsidised imports such as single-malt whisky and Italian panettone.

The black market rate for dollars has soared to 10 times the official rate. Inflation has rocketed to 54%, an all-time high. Capital continues to flee the country. More and more Venezuelans are watching their salary and life savings eroded. The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, warned last month that Venezuela was undergoing economic stress and would have to make some difficult policy decisions soon because it was running down its currency reserves [.....]