General Motors has laid off 13% of its workforce at its Venezuela plant, while Ford has ceased operations at its plant there, as the country’s currency control system has led to a shortage of currency. This has resulted in the companies being unable to buy parts.
President of the federation of unions Christian Pereira said, “Two weeks ago, 446 General Motors workers were dismissed. The company said production is slowing and auto parts for assembly are nearly impossible to obtain.”
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Pereira further said that operations at Ford’s assembly plant have been stopped for two weeks due to lack of parts. Meanwhile, the company is thinking about dismissing 267 workers, Reuters reported.
Venezuela is in the grip of a deepening political and economic crisis caused, in part, by price and exchange controls imposed by the government. The collapse in the price of oil has further hit the Venezuelan economy and resulted in shortages of many goods previously imported.
