[Correo del Orinoco 14/09/12] Minister of Planning and Finance Jorge Giordani said Tuesday that the policies of the Chavez administration have allowed “the Venezuelan economy to grow more than expected and for inflation to fall below the average [of 20 to 22 percent] established in the national budget for 2012”. GDP growth for the second quarter of this year was 5.4 percent, compared to 2.5 percent for that period in 2011. The annualized inflation for August stood at 18.1 percent, lower than the amount established in the 2012 budget, which was 20 to 22 percent.
Average inflation in Venezuela for the last 12 years under the Chavez government has been 22.2 percent, and at times as low as 12.4 percent. Under the previous governments of Carlos Andres Perez and Rafael Caldera, average inflation was 45.3 percent and 59.6 percent respectively, with highs of 80 percent inflation under the former and 103 percent under the latter.’
See also: Venezuela inflation slows down for seventh month running: 19.4% in last 12 months
