Venezuela opposition seeks end to state control of food firms
Date
2/18/2016 11:08:20 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Workers load packages of corn flour in Maracay Venezuela on October 27 2015 (AFP Photo/Federico Parra)
Caracas:Venezuelan opposition deputies vowed Tuesday to hand hundreds of expropriated food companies back to private owners with the country's state-led economy in tatters.
Lawmaker Julio Borges said they aimed to legislate so that some 1200 businesses confiscated by the state can be "returned to the country to small and medium-sized producers."
He told a news conference the opposition majority in the National Assembly would approve a "national production law" in a first reading on Thursday.
Even if the bill passes the assembly it is likely to be vetoed by President Nicolas Maduro who is locked in a political standoff with the opposition.
He has introduced emergency economic measures that give him heightened powers to intervene in the stricken economy.
The opposition brands Maduro's socialist policies a failure. It vowed to reverse them when it took control of the legislature last month but Maduro has taken legal steps to weaken its majority.
Borges said the planned production law aimed to give a "radical turn" to the policies of Maduro whom it has vowed to remove from office.
He said the assembly aimed to audit the companies which include 300 food producers to see how they productive they are and make unused land available to food producers.
Venezuela has the world's biggest known oil reserves but has suffered as crude prices have fallen sharply.
Citizens are suffering shortages of basics such as toilet paper and cooking oil.
AFP