Now that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has finished his first year in power, it’s time to take a dispassionate look at what has happened in oil-rich Venezuela since he took office on April 19, 2013, and what lies ahead. Let’s start with the facts.
• Fact: Venezuela’s annual inflation rate has soared from 27.6 per cent in 2012 to 56.7 per cent — the world’s highest — in 2013, according to official figures of Venezuela’s Central Bank. Inflation has risen further to 57.3 per cent in February this year, the Central Bank says.
The International Monetary Fund projects annual inflation will reach 75 per cent by the end of this year, IMF Western Hemisphere division head Alejandro Werner said last week.
• Fact: Venezuela’s economy grew by only 0.7 per cent in 2013 —
