Venezuela orders price controls

Venezuela decreed a new price control law that sets limits on company profits and establishes prison terms for those charged with hoarding or over-charging, part of socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s efforts to tame inflation. Maduro, who was elected last year to succeed the late Hugo Chavez, blames a 56.2 percent jump in consumer prices in 2013 on an “economic war” led by political adversaries, while critics call it evidence of the failure of Venezuela’s state-driven economic model. More...