Venezuela inflation to hit 10,000,000% in 2019: IMF

WASHINGTON: What does it look like to have inflation of 10,000,000%? When something that cost US$1 (RM4.15) now costs US$100,000, is there even a way to calculate the impact?

After seeing prices surge an already-unthinkable 1,000% last year, hyperinflation in Venezuela’s imploding economy is set to hit nearly 1,400,000% this year, the International Monetary Fund forecast in its World Economic Outlook released Monday.

But in 2019 that hyperinflation is expected to leave earth’s orbit, hitting 10,000,000%, a figure so large and improbable, readers of the report had to count the zeroes to make sure they had the correct number.

It is so bad that Venezuela was left out of the inflation calculations for the region and for all emerging markets since it would throw off the average.

After years of economic mismanagement, and with the vital oil industry nearly at a standstill, Venezuela has seen tens of thousands of people flee the country daily, increasingly desperate to find food and medicines, flooding into Colombia and Brazil.

The Venezuelan economy contracted 14% last year and is expected to fall another 18% this year, but the good news – if it can be called good – is that with little room left to fall it is only forecast to shrink 5% in 2019, the report said.

GDP per capita is estimated to have declined by more than 35% over 2013-17 and is projected to decline by close to 60% between 2013 and 2023, the IMF said.

With notable understatement, the IMF said “hyperinflation is expected to worsen rapidly, fueled by monetary financing of large fiscal deficits and loss of confidence in the currency.”

Venezuela devalued its currency by nearly 100% on Aug 20.

Excluding Venezuela, inflation in emerging and developing nations is expected to reach only 5% this year, the IMF said. – AFP