In a move to assure the food supply of nutritional products like canned tuna, grain and flour the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, will exonerate tariffs for the import of these essential products. The 50 days strike which is truing to force its exit has paralyzed many essential food industries in the country, among which the canned tuna industry.
The Minister of Production and Commerce Ramon Rosales said that the measure, that took effect last week, will last for six months and will guarantee the product supply that they has become scarce by the closing of essential food industries.
Rosales said that the measure looks to guarantee the provision of products of first necessity. "the import tariff of some nutritional products like canned tuna defined by the Ministry of Agriculture will be temporarily clearedâ€. "If the concerned products, which are part of the basic diet, right now pay a tariff of 20 percent and it is verified that production is not taking place in the country, we clear the 20 percent ", Rosales explained. Other concerned nutritional products besides tuna will be grain, flour precooked of maize, refined sugar, and refreshments.
The measures mark a drastic change in the protectionist policies of Chávez, who previously suspended an agreement of bi-national transport with Colombia and had been put in course of collision with the United States in the World Trade Organization (WTO) by restrictions on the import of agricultural imports.
Minister Rosales stressed that the commercial sector, that represents 90 percent of the more than 200,000 companies, has been struck and said that "inevitably" many are going to close and "obviously" it will increase unemployment, which until September 2002 was already 17 percents.