Cost of Living around the World

[the_future_modernes]

Cost of Living: Venezuela

The Central Bank of Venezuela has announced that produce prices went up nearly 70 per cent in 2010.

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, blames the jump on vendors. However, they say they have no choice but to raise prices.

Al Jazeera's Craig Mauro reports from the capital, Caracas.

Cost of Living: Mexico

The tortilla is a staple of the Mexican diet.

But the price of corn - a key ingredient in tortillas - has soared in the past year.

In the second report of Al Jazeera's 'Cost of Living' series, Franc Contreras examines how the rising cost of corn has affected Mexican households.

Cost of Living: Bangladesh

Despite the recent economic crisis, and ongoing economic stagnation in many countries, commodity prices have been rising sharply around the world.

In Bangladesh, for instance, the price of rice has shot up by 70 per cent, and government intervention is having a limited success.

Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque reports.

(Listen carefully to the part where they say the Bangladeshi government is considering leasing farm land in Africa and Cambodia. That doesn't tend to end well for the people living there, because their available farmland gets reduced. See Farmland Grab. This is a serious problem and its going to lead to instability in the future.)