Monday, May 18, 2009

Pasta a la Chavez

"The Venezuelan government temporarily seized a Cargill pasta processing plant on Friday, claiming that the food giant has broken regulations governing food pricing, according to the Associated Press.
The Chavez government has imposed price checks on a number of staple food items in Venezuela – a move it says is necessary to ensure its poorest citizens have access to basic foods and to curb inflation levels, which reached 28.3 percent last month, the highest in Latin America. Businesses have complained however that the cheap prices make it difficult to make a profit and the price checks are off-putting to outside investors.
The government has said it will run the US-owned Cargill plant for the next 90 days to oversee operations and make sure that it meets the government-imposed threshold of producing at least 70 percent of its pasta at approved prices. "

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