Venezuela: Two Years of Recession

Reuters:  Venezuela’s economy shrank an estimated 1.9 percent in 2010, marking a second year of recession as the South American nation fails to match the recovery in other countries after the global financial crisis, the Central Bank said on Thursday.The economy contracted 3.3 percent last year, but President Hugo Chavez’s government says the OPEC member is now pulling out of recession and is on course for 2 percent growth in 2011.

“We foresee a positive tendency for 2011,” the Central Bank said in its annual report on preliminary economic data for this year.

The report said oil GDP shrank 2.2 percent in 2010 while the non-oil economy fell 1.8 percent.

Estimated annual inflation in December was 1.6 percent, bringing the annual consumer price rise for 2010 to 26.9 percent, up from 25.1 percent last year, the bank said.

Venezuela’s inflation is among the highest in the world. Central Bank President Nelson Merentes told state TV that inflation for next year was forecast at between 23-25 percent.  Read more at Reuters: