Slide showing the end of hyperinflation and reduction of inflation in Venezuela, from 2016 to 2022. Photo: Twitter/@ginettegm.
Caracas, January 24, 2023 (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez announced that the inflation for 2022 in the South American country is being estimated at 234%, representing a significant slowdown if compared with previous years. The statement was issued during a meeting between Venezuelan and Turkish businessmen in Caracas on Monday, January 23.
The top official accompanied her presentation with a slideshow showing the evolution of inflation from 2016 to 2022. In 2016, the inflation was at 274%, 863% was reported in 2017, 130,060% in 2018, 9,585% in 2019, 2,960% in 2020, and 686% in 2021. Thus the inflation figure for 2022 represents a reduction of 65,89% compared with 2021, and the lowest inflation rate in six years.
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“In December 2018, inflation was 130,000%, and we closed the year 2022 with 234%,” Rodríguez said in the business meeting. Rodríguez added that the government continues to work to control inflation. “It is an aspect that for us is fundamental in our social agenda, because we know how the inflationary issue impacts the life of the people.”
#Ahora proyección de inflación de 2022 según VP de la República. pic.twitter.com/BehYVJRjoJ
— Ginette Gonzalez (@ginettegm) January 23, 2023
The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) has not officially updated inflation figures since October 2022, when it reported a monthly price variation of 6.2%. At that time, the accumulated inflation reported by the BCV was at 119.4%, meaning that a substantial monthly inflation should have occurred for the months of November and December.
BCV’s deficiency in reporting is part of a trend that many economists and analysts regularly complain about, particularly since 2019, when the Central Bank began to resume public disclosure of this data after several years of silence in the midst of the peak of US aggression against the Venezuelan economy.
During the last quarter of 2022, the bolívar was strongly devalued against the US dollar, negatively impacting the strong performance of Venezuela against inflation in recent months.
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Many experts and government officials have noted that a large part of the devaluation trend came from cryptocurrency speculation and general cryptocurrency operations; however, others point at greater government expenditure in the last quarter of the year along combined with a lack of hard currency in the hands of the government, a consequence of US and European blockade and illegal coercive economic measures—euphemistically referred to as “sanctions.”
By the end of December, the BCV reported that Venezuela’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 17.73% between January and September 2022. Venezuelan GDP recorded growths of 17.45%, 23.30%, and 13.22% in the first, second, and third quarters of 2022, respectively, with which the aggregated January–September GDP closed with a rebound of 17.73%, compared to the same period in 2021.
Orinoco Tribune Special by staff
OT/JRE/SL
