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ÿþBBC Learning English Words in the News Dealing with Venezuela's food crisis 27 September 2013 _____________________________________________________ The Venezuelan government has announced new economic measures to tackle the country's shortages of essential goods, such as flour, milk and toilet paper. Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nelson Merentes acknowledged that the government's economic policies had been unsuccessful. BBC Reporter: Irene Caselli It has become common for Venezuelans to go to different supermarkets in order to buy all the products on their shopping list. Central bank figures show that out of one hundred basic products, twenty are not available. With Christmas coming, the Venezuelan authorities are worried shortages may increase. The vice-president, Jorge Arreaza, said the government was going to ensure that citizens have access to food, toys and artificial trees in order to celebrate during their holidays. The government accuses businessmen of holding back basic products in order to force customers to buy more expensive alternatives. President Nicolas Maduro has set up a telephone hotline, 0-800-SABOTAGE, for Venezuelans to report on such illegal activities. But analysts say cutting red tape to facilitate imports is too little, too late. They blame shortages on the government's currency controls and inadequate domestic production of staples. Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013 Page 1 of 2 bbclearningenglish.com Vocabulary and definitions in order to so that (something can happen) to ensure to make sure something happens citizens people who are legally members of a particular country artificial man-made; a copy of something natural holding back (here) not giving sabotage intentionally to stop something happening red tape rules, processes and documents that seem to cause unnecessary delay staples basic products that people eat or use regularly Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/09/130927_witn_venezuela.shtml Related story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24276587 Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013 Page 2 of 2 bbclearningenglish.com

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