ZCZC
BCN-04
VENEZUELA-ECONOMY-INFLATION
Venezuela says 2018 inflation 10 times lower than IMF estimates
CARACAS, May 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Venezuela ended 2018 with 130,060
percent inflation, while the economy contracted 47.6 percent between 2013 and
2018, the central bank said Tuesday in the first such figures it has released
in three years.
The data found inflation reached 274.4 percent in 2016, 862.6 percent in
2017 and 130,060 percent in 2018 — figures 10 times smaller than
International Monetary Fund estimates of 1,370,000 percent for last year.
The IMF projects 10,000,000 percent inflation for the oil-rich country in
2019.
The Central Bank of Venezuela also reported that oil exports — which
account for 96 percent of the country’s revenue — plummeted to $29.8 billion
in 2018, down from $85.6 billion in 2013 and $71.7 billion in 2014, when oil
prices collapsed and the country’s political and economic crisis began.
Oil prices have since rebounded, starting in 2016, but Venezuela’s drop in
production prevented a return to previous revenue levels — the country was
producing 1.03 million barrels of oil per day in April versus the 3.2 million
barrels it produced per day a decade ago.
The central bank had stopped providing officials figures three years ago
without giving an official reason, though it had already been holding back
the amount of economic information it reported.
BSS/AFP/HR/0922