Jan 22 Venezuela's opposition said on Friday it would not approve President Nicolas Maduro's "economic emergency" decree in congress as it did not offer solutions for the OPEC nation's increasingly disastrous recession. The measures lost by 107 votes to 54 in the National Assembly, which is dominated by the right-wing coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). The IMF estimates that inflation here ran at 275 percent previous year, and the economy contracted by 10 percent.
The oil-producing nation has suffered greatly from the recent fall in the price per barrel. The opposition, however, argues that he already holds sufficient powers, and blames him for the country's economic troubles. "And this is just one more round", he added.
"How many countries or businesses can bear these prices?" he asked.
The debate took place against the backdrop of more grim economic news, as the International Monetary Fund predicted Friday morning that Venezuela's inflation would more than double in 2016, reaching 720 percent. The economy is expected to contract for the third consecutive year.
Analysts say the political deadlock threatens to worsen the hardship that drove voters to hand the opposition a landslide election victory last month.
"In such a severe economic crisis, the last thing Venezuela needs is a showdown between its public powers". His critics, counter it's the government's incompetence and and almost two decades worth of socialist controls.
"Inflation is a very serious issue and we reject this decree because it's more of the same", said Guerra, who sits on the National Assembly's finance committee.
Maduro's economic team pulled out, accusing the opposition of trying to turn the assembly into a "show".
"I regret that the majority that controls Congress has turned its back on the country", Maduro said.
He said lawmakers suspended a session of the assembly in which the government was due to defend the decree because the ministers did not show up.
Despite its latest setback, the government insists that it's open to compromise to remedy the country's woes.
To this end, the council will consist of nine working groups or "motors" dedicated to the different areas of Venezuela's economy, including oil and gas, petrochemicals, food and agriculture, information and telecommunications, construction, industry, military industry, tourism, and mining.
Without taking a glance into the history of Venezuela, it is hard to make any sense of the current political, social and economic situation in the country. "Until that's resolved, there's no credibility".
Maria Sharapova takes down Lauren Davis, records 600th career match win
Federer is the first male player to reach 300 wins in majors - Jimmy Connors was next-best with 233 and Andre Agassi had 224. So says Williams, the No. 1-ranked player who is baring her midriff and naval ring at this year's Australian Open .
