Friday, October 11, 2013

Venezuelan Inflation Rate Tops 49 Percent

Venezuela's Central Bank says prices have risen nearly 50 percent since last September, via AP.

Thursday's report says the consumer price index for September was 4.4 percent higher than the one for August and 49.4 percent higher than the one for September 2012.

The inflation rate for 2012 was 20.1 percent.

AP continues:
The country's leftist government has spent heavily on social programs, rapidly increasing the amount of currency in circulation. It also tries to control prices while restricting access to bolivars at the official rate of exchange of 6.3 per dollar. That leads many to pay seven times as much for dollars on the black market.
Is the US just one panic and extreme money printing away from such madness?

3 comments:

  1. I wonder what the picture looks like in Mankiw's Venezualan edition?

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  2. A society based on each according to his ability to each according to his need is soon a society where nobody has any ability and everybody is in need.

    ReplyDelete
  3. From the confusion of "money" and "currency". Sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking.
    I think I'll start a school of "linguistic precision".
    Oh, wait, Mises is somewhat ahead of me...

    ReplyDelete