Venezuela Looks to Army General to Damp Spiraling Prices

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is turning to an army brigadier general to run the economy, two months after using troops to control prices and slow the world’s fastest inflation.

Rodolfo Marco Torres was named finance minister yesterday, replacing Nelson Merentes, whose attempts to improve relations with businessmen failed to prevent inflation doubling to 56 percent during his nine months in office. Merentes will return to head the country’s central bank, Maduro said in a state of the nation address to congress.