LatinNews Daily Report - 07 June 2013

ECONOMY | Opposition says Venezuela suffering runaway inflation. The national index of consumer price inflation (INPC) was 6.1% month-on-month and 35.2% year-on-year in May,  the central bank of Venezuela (BCV reported on 6 June, giving accumulated year-to-date inflation of 19.4% in the first five months of 2013. Inflation for calendar 2012 as a whole was 20.1%. The BCV said the latest result showed the residual impact of February’s devaluation and a rise in the minimum wage from 1 May, while food prices were also impacted by an officially-sanctioned upwards adjustment in the fixed retail prices of some basic foodstuffs including rice, meat and dairy products. The food prices sub-index rose 48.1% in the 12 months between May 2012 and May 2013, according to the BCV. The bank’s ‘scarcity index’, which measures the availability of basic goods on supermarket shelves, was 20.5%, down on previous months but still high (meaning that a fifth of basic goods were considered ‘scarce’). President Nicolás Maduro yesterday denied that the government was contemplating another devaluation.

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