Versión Español
EspañolOnly 230,000 companies remain of the 800,000 that opened in Venezuela during Hugo Chavez’s regime, meaning 570,000 have shut down.
Price controls, labor laws and threats are the main reasons that experts think caused Venezuela’s industrial collapse, and which left the business sector in ruins.
According to unofficial and preliminary figures from the Central Bank of Venezuela, the 2016 inflation was 830 percent and the Gross Domestic Product fell 23 percent.
There will be no end to Venezuela’s crisis as long as President Nicolás Maduro insists on state control of the economy, first Vice President of the National Council of Commerce and Services Alfonso Riera said.
“That only 230,000 operating companies currently exist out of the 800,000 registered in 1998 should be a call for reflection, and guarantee private companies the space to recover domestic production,” he said. “No matter how many times the wage is increased, inflation will continue to surpass the depth of Venezuelans’ pockets.”
He also said constant and unexpected salary increases implemented by the government don’t help either.
“By increasing costs to companies without creating conditions in which they are able to honor them, businesses are doomed to close and put workers into unemployment, he said.
with the closure of more than 500,000 companies over the last decade, the immigration of at least two million Venezuelans and the loss of one million jobs, it’s clear that changing the economic model is a necessity.
Source: El Carabobeño; La Patilla
