 The Venezuelan government's economic policies, including strict Price controls, led to one of the highest inflation rates in the world with "sporadic hyperinflation", and have caused severe shortages of food and other basic goods.Such policies created by the Venezuelan government have hurt businesses and led to shortages, long queues, and looting.The Heritage Foundation, a US-based conservative advocacy group, ranked Venezuela at 175 of 178 in economic freedom and was classified as a "Repressed" economy in its 2014 Index of Economic Freedom report.