According to today’s Tal Cual newspaper (by subscription only, page 8) the Government’s Mercal project is already suffering from shortages only months after being initiated. Mercal, meant to compete with the private sector by importing foodstuffs at the controlled exchange rates, without paying custom duties and at cheaper prices, is becoming like many other Chavez projects, neglected after being announced with much fanfare. According to Tal Cual, the Government supermarkets suffer from even more severe shortages than those of the private sector. While most critics have focused on the lower quality products of Mercal, I still have nobody explain to me how the Government’s company has prices only 10% below free market prices since it receives foreign currency for imports at the official exchange rate of Bs. 1600 per US$ (versus US$ 2600 in the black market), pays no custom duties and is supposed to be a not-for profit project. To me this clearly demonstrates that this is simply an immense source of corruption and somebody is getting very rich at the expense of the poor of Venezuela
The Devil's Excrement 
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