Oil-rich Venezuela moves to fix price on car sales

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s National Assembly moved closer on Wednesday to fix prices on car sales, the latest move to cap sharply rising consumer prices in the oil-rich Caribbean nation.

The retail price tag of cars in Venezuela, where gasoline is cheaper than anywhere else in the world, is up to three times that of the same model in the United States or Europe.

The assembly’s finance committee approved a government-sponsored bill that proposes to set prices on new cars based on production costs, taxes, the foreign exchange rate, and a set profit margin.

It would also slap a tax several times the original price on the sale of cars up to two years old, a move the government hopes will combat what it considers speculation by manufacturers and dealers.

“They are truly outrageous, immoral people, who blatantly assault the Venezuelan people, and we definitely have to regulate this,” said Deputy Elvis Amoroso, chairman of the committee that drafted the bill.

Reuters