The figures that reveal the “unprecedented moment” that the Venezuelan economy is experiencing

Figures from the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) show that the economy of the South American country has had a sustained double-digit growth in the last year. The data was presented on Tuesday by its president, Calixto Ortega.

During a meeting of the National Council for Productive Economy headed by President Nicolás Maduro, Ortega specified that the country’s economic activity grew 14.65% in the third quarter of 2021 and 19.07% in the fourth, compared to the same periods. of 2020.

He also detailed that the growth figure for the last quarter of 2021 was the second highest in the region.

As for 2022, the first three months of the current year, the economic expansion was 17.04%. According to the head of the Venezuelan issuing entity, it is the «highest growth in the Latin American region».

According to the data handled by the BCV, it is estimated that between April and June, the non-oil private sector has grown by up to 18.70%. «It has been an unprecedented moment, but we have learned a lot and we have enough reasons to be optimistic for what remains of 2022 and also for next year», said Ortega during his speech.

Expansion figures for Venezuela

The head of the BCV stressed that to reach these expansion figures, «hard work» has been done to strengthen fiscal, monetary and the exchange policies. “We have made progress on the main objectives of stabilizing the course of inflation and entering strongly the phase of growth”, he pointed out.

These numbers are made public the same week that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) released its annual report, which projects a growth of 10% of GDP for Venezuela and that would place the nation as the second with the best projection after Guyana.

The South American country went through a hyperinflationary crisis that had its highest peak in 2018 and began to show a slowdown as of 2019.