Venezuelan food distribution plan a stopgap measure, minister says

Venezuela's new food distribution program is a stopgap measure to quickly allay shortages, a top official said Tuesday.

The scheme is an "emergency policy," Communication and Information Minister Luis Marcano told reporters at a press conference.

In a bid to fight the scarcity of basic goods by setting up an alternative to traditional distribution networks, Venezuela's government created Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) that make monthly deliveries of staple items to their districts.

But the scheme is not the definitive solution to persistent shortages, acknowledged Marcano.

"The CLAP is an emergency policy, it's not intended as the structural solution to the problem of shortages," said Marcano, adding a ton of food distributed via the CLAP yields five times more than when distributed via traditional channels.

"We have a distorted and corrupted distribution system (and) that has distorted the country's economy," added Marcano.

The government hopes to attend to some 20 percent of the population through the initial phase of the CLAP system.

Marcano blamed price speculation for causing shortages, but admitted that economic "mistakes made" by the government in recent years, and the politicization of sectors linked to supply and distribution were also to blame.

Falling oil prices in recent years have plunged the oil exporting country into a deep economic crisis aggravated by a political power struggle between the ruling socialist party and conservative opposition groups.

"Three or four years ago we received an average of 3 billion to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in monthly oil earnings," said Marcano. "Today those earnings have shrunk to 100 million dollars a month."

Still, the government's plan to get the economy back on track has made some headway, enabling officials to reach accords with the export and agricultural sectors, which will begin to show results in the coming months, said the minister. Enditem