VENEZUELA’S Supreme Court overruled the opposition-controlled National Assembly on Thursday, granting President Nicolas Maduro emergency economic powers for 60 days.

Mr Maduro welcomed the ruling in a televised address, promising to take immediate action to revive the ailing economy.

A proposal for emergency powers was rejected on January 14 by the National Assembly, in which the right-wing opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable holds a two-thirds majority.

“Now that the emergency decree is in place, I’m going to put in place a set of measures in the coming days that I was already working on,” said Mr Maduro.

He has proposed increasing tax revenue, raising the heavily subsidised price of petrol and increasing price controls on food.

Oil-rich Venezuela has suffered from the global slump in oil prices, coupled with rampant smuggling of subsidised fuel and food to neighbouring Colombia.

Exchange rate controls have been undermined by black-market money changers.