Tackling inflation top priority, says Venezuela's Maduro

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-21 04:39:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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CARACAS, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government's toughest challenge is fighting skyrocketing inflation, President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday.

In a televised in-depth interview conducted at the presidential headquarters, Maduro said his priority was to bring the country's triple-digit inflation under control.

According to the government, the factors pushing prices skyward are manmade, including hoarding and price gouging, two practices the right-wing opposition has reportedly used to spread discontent among the people, and manipulating the U.S. dollar-to-bolivar exchange rate.

"Today, perhaps the most important and most difficult task, because it does not depend on elements of the real economy, it does not depend on national factors, is controlling the criminal and induced inflation that has skyrocketed due to the criminal dollar," said Maduro.

"Fixing (the value of) this criminal dollar has to do with a political decision by those opposed to the government," he said.

An influential U.S.-based website, called DolarToday, posts the black-market value of the Venezuelan bolivar, which is usually five times the official exchange rate, as well as news and editorials calling for Maduro's ouster.

Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly (ANC), a newly elected body designed to overcome the political and economic crises by drafting new laws and amending the Constitution, is set to take on inflation and other challenges, including diversifying the oil-reliant economy, said Maduro.

The ANC's economic commission was meeting with representatives of the nation's private sector to outline policies to end price speculation for goods in general.

"This coming week, we are going to release a package of measures designed to enforce a maximum price for products," along with legal measures to punish speculation, said Maduro.

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