Shortages in Venezuela

Shortages in Venezuela

Part of Crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela
Shortages leave shelves empty in this Venezuelan store.
Date	2010 – present
Location	Venezuela
Cause	Government policies, corruption and smuggling
Outcome	Hunger, disease and civil unrest.

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Contrasting satellite images of Puerto Cabello in February 2012 and June 2015, showing import shortages.

Shortages in Venezuela have been prevalent following the enactment of price controls and other policies during the economic policy of the Hugo Chávez government. Under the economic policy of the Nicolás Maduro government, greater shortages occurred due to the Venezuelan government's policy of withholding United States dollars from importers with price controls. Shortages occur in regulated products, such as milk, various types of meat, chicken, coffee, rice, oil, precooked flour, butter prices; and also basic necessities like toilet paper, personal hygiene products and medicine. As a result of the shortages, Venezuelans must search for food, occasionally resorting to eating wild fruit or garbage, wait in lines for hours and sometimes settle without having certain products.

Amnesty International, the United Nations and other groups have offered aid to Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has refused such assistance, however.

Since the 1990s, food production in Venezuela has continuously dropped, with the Bolivarian government beginning to import food using the country's then-large oil profits. In 2003, the government created CADIVI (now CENCOEX), a currency control board charged with handling foreign exchange procedures in order to control capital flight by placing currency limits on individuals. Such currency controls have been determined to be the cause of shortages according to many economists and other experts. However, the Venezuelan government blamed other entities for shortages, such as the CIA and the smugglers, and has stated that an "economic war" had been declared on Venezuela.

Before the Nicolas Maduro presidency, Venezuela faced occasional shortages due to high inflation and financial inefficiencies of the government. An increase in shortages began to occur in 2005, with 5% of items being unavailable according to the Central Bank of Venezuela. In January 2008, 24.7% of goods were reported to not be available in Venezuela, with the scarcity of goods remaining high until May 2008, when there was a shortage of 16.3% of goods. However, shortages increased again in January 2012 to nearly the same rate as in 2008. Shortage rates continued to increase, and reached a new record high of 28% in February 2014. Venezuela has stopped reporting its shortage data after the rate stood at 28%. In January 2015, the hashtag AnaquelesVaciosEnVenezuela or EmptyShelvesInVenezuela was the number one trending topic on Twitter in Venezuela for two days, with Venezuelans posting pictures of empty store shelves around the country.