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El Tiempo, August 18, 2015
An already critical economic situation is spiraling out of control in Venezuela, with newspaper El Tiempo reporting that “the word “cheap” is disappearing from the Venezuelan vocabulary.”
In the northern city of Puerto La Cruz, a kilo of tomatoes or onions can cost a whopping 400 bolivars ($63), double what it used to be, while bell peppers sell for 350 bolivars ($55) per kilo. A few days ago, the newspaper reported that the price for a carton of eggs had increased by 30% in just one week to about 700 bolivars ($110).
While the cost of basic goods can vary widely from week to week, people queue for hours to get their hands on “regulated products,” whose prices the government caps. On El Tiempo“s front page, shoppers are pictured waiting in long lines to buy the offers of the day, namely detergents, dishwashing liquid and toilet paper. “Tomorrow, it could be something else,” the reporter writes.
ABOUT THE SOURCE: El Tiempo is a regional newspaper from Venezuela’s northern city of Puerto La Cruz. It was founded in 1958.
