inflation

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Venezuelan Inflation hits 22.5 percent

From the International Herald Tribune....

Venezuelan inflation soared to 22.5 percent in 2007, the highest official rate in Latin America, the Central Bank said Wednesday. Consumer price increases, Venezuela's highest since 2003, far exceeded the 12 percent annual goal announced at the beginning of 2007 by President Hugo Chavez's government.

Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas called the rate "unsatisfactory" and promised, without giving details, that the government and central bank would introduce new anti-inflationary measures within the next 10 days. Real inflation could be higher, as the government generally underestimates street price increases, said Gustavo Garcia, an economist at the IESA business school in Caracas.