Venezuela is becoming the world's cheapest and yet most expensive country. With its inflation rate hitting 56 percent last year, one of the highest in the Americas, black market trading and a lack of hard currency is creating hardships for Venezuelans.
Standing in long lines has become an everyday task for Venezuelan residents.
People wait hours just to buy basic staples at supermarkets across the country. Even the military has had to be deployed in some markets to make sure everyone gets his share.
Local resident Helda Saez said, "We came to wait in line at five o’clock in the morning to try to get flour, sugar, cooking oil, everyday foodstuffs. Before, there was everything everywhere."
Under 11-year-old currency controls, Venezuela's central bank last week suspended the auctioning of U.S. dollars to businesses that sell food, medicine and other basic goods. The attempt to ease the inflation crisis caused Venezuela's citizens to doubt whether the country holds enough currency reserves. That doubt, consumers say, has worsened black market hoarding and trading of food.
The Venezuelan economy took another blow last Friday when the world's largest automaker, Toyota, announced it would halt production in the country because of the shortage of hard currency.
Six-point-three bolivars can be exchanged now for one dollar for essential goods in Venezuela. Some analysts expect that the country's inflation rate could go as high as 300 percent later this year.
Source: CCTV
