July 20, 2009

The-most-expensive-city-in-Latin-America-Chronicles

Juan Cristóbal says: - Life in our fair, not-quite-socialist capital city is highlighted in a NY Times piece by Simón Romero and Gregory Kristof, only not in the "World/Americas" section but rather in the Economix blog. Check it out.

The money quote?
Walk into the San Lorenzo supermarket in Caracas, for instance, and a box of Fruit Loops costs the equivalent of $54 at the official exchange rate, which Mercer used in its study. A bag of Uncle Ben’s long grain rice costs $80, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whiskey $98, and so on.
There you have it, Venezuela in a nutshell: a box of rice costs a little less than a bottle of Johnnie Walker, and about 100 times what it costs to fill up your gas tank.

Oh well, at least the picture they used (reproduced above) is a pretty one.

Post 10 of 100. We're just warming up...