The government of Venezuela has seized nearly 4 million children's toys from a toy distributor. It will give the toys to children for free or at discounted prices in time for Christmas. The government says the distributor was unfairly charging high prices for the toys, which meant only the richest people could buy them. Venezuela has one of the highest rates of inflation in the world. This is the rate at which prices go up. The IMF says the rate could be as much as 2,000 per cent in 2017. Many Venezuelans can't afford to buy non-essential items like toys. Even a jar of Nutella can cost half the monthly minimum salary. In the past few months, Venezuela has also ordered price cuts on clothes.
委內瑞拉政府從一個玩具批發(fā)商那里沒收了近400萬件兒童玩具。這些玩具將在圣誕節(jié)前免費贈送給孩子或者打折出售。政府表示,這家批發(fā)商出售玩具的價格過高,只有富人才買得起。委內瑞拉擁有全世界最高的通脹率,也就是物價上漲率。IMF表示,到2017年,委內瑞拉的通脹率將高達2000%。許多委內瑞拉人買不起玩具等非必需品。一罐巧克力醬都要花掉半個月的最低薪資。過去幾個月,委內瑞拉還下令下調服裝價格。
In total, the government seized 3,821,926 toys from two warehouses. It tweeted: "Our children are sacred. We will not let anyone rob them at Christmas. Boys and girls of this country will have a happy Christmas." The government said the toy distributor was keeping the toys out of the shops to reduce their supply and so increase prices. The government also accused the company of buying them with dollars it got at very low rates several years ago and now wanted to sell the toys at much higher prices. The toy distributor has said it has done nothing wrong and was not trying to sell the toys at high prices to make huge profits. It said many of the toys were out of fashion.
政府總共從兩個倉庫沒收了3,821,926件玩具。政府發(fā)表推文稱:“我們的孩子是神圣的。我們不會讓任何人在圣誕節(jié)搶劫他們。這個國家的男孩女孩們都將度過一個快樂的圣誕節(jié)。”政府表示,玩具批發(fā)商一直給商場斷供,減少供應量,囤積居奇來提高價格。政府還指控該公司以幾年前低匯率購入的美元來購買這些玩具,然后以高得多的價格來出售。該玩具批發(fā)商辯解稱,他們沒有做錯任何事,并沒有試圖高價出售這些玩具來牟取暴利。該公司稱,許多玩具已經過時了。