CARACAS, November 19, 4:02 /ITAR-TASS/. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said Monday he had managed to cut down retail prices for the first time ever in the nation’s history.
As he made a speech in Aragua State, he said his counteroffensive in the war led by the ‘treacherous bourgeoisie’ against the people of Venezuela was bringing fruits.
“We’ve done something no one has been able to do in this country in the past, namely, we cut down the prices,” Maduro said.
He said last week a law restricting the size of profits for businessmen had been drafted and he was going to sign it as soon as the national parliament vested special legislative powers in him.
“I’ll set reasonable and objective restrictions on profits and correspondingly on prices,” Maduro said. “We’ll slash the prices of all the commodities. The traders should reduce the overblown price tags by 50% as a minimum.”
However, the government undertook a few steps against the businesses trading at market prices even before endorsement of the law Maduro had spoken about. It demanded that the owners of retail chains and stores cut down their prices to a justified level.
Some of the retail trade outlets did respond to the demand by revising the prices downwards.
Earlier, Maduro charged the opposition with conducting psychological warfare against economic stability. He warned the authorities were not going to watch this activity idly.
Maduro said in October he would take extraordinary measure aimed at a transition to a new stage of the Bolivarian revolution.