CARACAS, Venezuela–Venezuela's central bank has acknowledged what anyone watching the prices on the shelves already knew: The South American country's inflation rate is continuing its upward march.After withholding monthly inflation data through the summer, the central bank said inflation over the past 12 months has reached 63.4 per cent. That means something that cost US$1 a year ago would cost about US$1.63 today. It's believed to be the world's fiercest inflation.
Venezuela's bolivar currency plunged to a record low in black market trading this month, now bringing a fourteenth of its official value. The weakening currency has hurt investment and makes basic goods hard to find.The bank had drawn criticism for halting the publication of its inflation and scarcity indexes, flouting its own bylaws which require it to publish the numbers each month. The bank last reported the data in May, when the annual inflation rate was 60.9 per cent.
The new numbers are the worst inflation recorded in the socialist country since the bank began tracking prices nationwide in 2008. It's not the fastest inflation in recent Venezuelan history, however. That would be the hyperinflation of the 1980s and 90s. (AP)