Venezuela’s year-on-year inflation down to 3,500%

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela ended June with a year-on-year inflation of 3,500%, according to a statement published on Wednesday, July 8, by the opposition-controlled legislature.

The figures show inflation is gradually decreasing, having hit almost 3,700% in May and 4,200% in April.

However, June’s inflation of 19.5% was higher than May’s 15.3%, opposition legislator Jose Guerra said during a video press conference.

The National Assembly has been publishing monthly inflation figures since 2017 due to a lack of official statistics from the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Inflation over the first 6 months of the year was just over 500%, the statement said.

Venezuela has been in recession for almost 7 years and is in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history.

And it may get worse, according to Guerra, who said hyperinflation could be given “a new impulse with the depreciation of the bolivar.”

The local currency has lost 77% of its value in 2020 and depreciated 3% in each of the last two days, he added.

At the end of April, Maduro increased the minimum wage by 77%, which includes mandatory food stamps, but it still amounts only to the equivalent of $3.80 a month.

A family of 4 needs $250 a month to buy the basic necessities, according to Guerra.

A study published on Tuesday, July 7, by 3 main universities found that 4 out of 5 Venezuelans could not afford the basic necessities.

Venezuela ended 2019 with inflation of just over 9,500%, according to the Central Bank, although the National Assembly calculated it to be 7,300%. – Rappler.com