The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) announced that inflation in March was 1.4 percent. This rate drew attention as it was the lowest inflation rate in the last 115 months.
In Venezuela, which entered a hyperinflation process that lasted for 51 months with monthly inflation exceeding the 50 percent threshold in November 2017, a total of 11 zeros were removed from the currency in order to maintain the value of the national currency bolivar during this period.
In the country, where inflation has fallen to single digits since last September, the inflation rate in the first quarter of this year was 11.4 percent, according to official data. This rate corresponds to half of the 22.8 percent inflation rate, according to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).
According to the reports of the Venezuelan Financial Observatory (OVF), one of the independent institutions that monitor inflation in Venezuela, the first quarter inflation rate was announced as 17.8 percent.
Inflation rates in Venezuela, whose economy has shrunk by nearly 80 percent in the last eight years due to high inflation and the exchange rate increase, have been lower than in Turkey for the last 4 months.
The items with the highest price increases in Venezuela in March were education with 12.2% and communication services with 11.1%. Transportation prices, the item with the highest increase last month with 13.29 percent in Turkey, increased by 0.1 percent in the South American country. In Venezuela, cigarette and alcoholic beverage prices decreased by 1.3 percent compared to last month.
Annual inflation is 284.4 percent
According to BCV data, in the country where annual inflation is recorded as 284.4 percent, experts say that practices such as the actual dollarization of the economy, increasing the deposit rates that banks should keep in the central bank, removing zero from money, supplying cash dollars to the market, reducing public expenditures and increasing tax revenues are among the factors that restrain inflation. is recording.
Salaries were increased 17 times last month.
In Venezuela, where approximately 28 million people live, the decrease in purchasing power is the leading factor that has led to the emigration of more than 6 million people in the last six years. In the country, where wages have turned into stamps in the face of high inflation and the unstoppable increase in exchange rates, labor organizations also demand that wages be indexed to the dollar rate.
In the country, where the minimum wage was increased from 10 bolivars to 171 bolivars last month, salaries were indexed to Venezuela’s digital currency and the foreign currency-indexed petro. Today, 1 petro is equivalent to $60.05.
The Documentation and Analysis Center for Workers (Cenda) reports that the mandatory kitchen cost of a family of five is $324 a month, while research shows that 94.6 percent of Venezuelans earn less than $143 a month.