Venezuela’s Central Bank Says Inflation Was Only 130,060% in 2018

HAVANA TIMES – Venezuela’s inflation rate reached 130,060 per cent during all of 2018, the country’s central bank said in its first release of official inflation figures in more than three years.

The figure is considerably higher than the 862.6 per cent the central bank reports for 2017, but much lower than the 1.4 million per cent the International Monetary Fund had predicted for last year.

The opposition-controlled National Assembly has issued even higher figures than the IMF.

Venezuela’s gross domestic product shrank by 19.2 per cent in the first nine months of 2018, according to the central bank.

The country’s GDP will contract by up to 30 per cent this year, signifying a drop of up to 65 per cent over five years, the daily El Universal quoted the consulting firm Aristimuno Herrera & Asociados as saying.

The central bank had not published official economic data since 2015, leaving the task to the National Assembly.

The government attributes the country’s economic problems to US sanctions, while the opposition blames President Nicolas Maduro’s economic policies.

The South American country is in the grip of an economic and political crisis that has sent millions of citizens fleeing abroad.