International News

CARACAS, Oct 15 (APP/AFP) – President Nicolas Maduro issued the government’s 2017 budget by decree Friday, bypassing the opposition-held legislature in a move that could deepen Venezuela’s economic crisis. “Here is the 2017 budget and debt law. May it be fulfilled. I ask for the support of the people, the military and the street,” Maduro said at a signing ceremony in Caracas attended by hundreds of supporters. The move came a day after Venezuela’s Supreme Court — which the opposition accuses of backing Maduro — ruled the leftist leader did not have to submit his budget to the National Assembly, despite a constitutional requirement to do so. The court said the ruling aimed to “maintain the functioning of the state, the guarantee of fundamental rights and constitutional order.” Maduro and the National Assembly have been locked in battle since the center-right opposition took control of the legislature in January, ending the left’s 17-year monopoly on power.