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Assignment: Venezuela – Out of Stock

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Venezuela – Out of Stock

26/09/2013

BBC World Service - Assignment, Venezuela – Out of Stock

How Venuezuela's looming economic crisis is threatening the supply of basic consumer goods

Food shortages, widespread smuggling and an inflation rate at 45% - where did it all go wrong for Venezuela?

Venezuela appears to be on the edge of an economic crisis, with inflation doubling and the country sliding into recession. At the heart of the crisis is a simple human predicament - the challenge of finding basic imported goods – like milk and toilet rolls. Now gossip and the black market may be the householders' best bet as supermarket shelves are laid bare. Ed Butler follows the consumers' quest for basic goods, examines the rumours of smuggling and massive corruption - and asks where it all went wrong.

Produced and presented by Ed Butler.

(Image: A supermarket in Maracaibo, Venezuela which is out of stock. BBC copyright)

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