President Hugo Chavez blamed "bourgeois" speculators for Venezuela's runaway inflation and ever-weaker bolivar currency and promised strong action in coming days to control the OPEC member's economy.
"We need to stop this right now. The bourgeoisie do not listen to appeals to their conscience. Let's act with a firm hand," the fiery Venezuelan socialist said at a televised cabinet meeting late Saturday, in a familiar response to times of economic difficulty. "We need to smash speculation."
Already in recession and forecast to be the only nation in Latin America with negative growth in 2010, Venezuela's economy had more bad news this week with the highest monthly inflation, 5.2 percent, in years.
Felling the price rises and causing distortions throughout the economy, the US dollar touched 8.0 bolivars on the free-floating parallel market. That was nearly double the main official rate of 4.3 bolivars and triple the government's 2.6 level for essential imports.
Chavez, who now calls himself Marxist and has made a political career out of attacking Venezuela's traditional elite, said the rich were taking advantage of a recent rise in the minimum wage, and also wanted to cause him problems before a September legislative election. "The bourgeoisie are very involved in the running of the economy. I warn them: we are not going to be pushed around. We make an effort to raise salaries then immediately the capitalists raise everything, food, transport, clothes. They're trying to cause problems and we won't allow it." The president said by Monday his economic team would give him a list of speculators who needed to be tackled.
Venezuela's April inflation spike appears to be a delayed reaction to the impact of January devaluation. Stern warnings against retailers and the nationalisation of a supermarket chain on price-gouging charges chilled price rises in the first two months after the devaluation.
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