Venezuela has confirmed that its economy has entered recession, contracting for the first three quarters of the year, while inflation topped 63% in the 12 months to November.
The South American oil giant's economy shrank 2.3% in the third quarter, after contracting 4.8% in the first quarter and 4.9% in the second, the central bank said yesterday.
The inflation rate, a figure the government had not released since August, meanwhile came in at 4.7% for the month of November and 63.6% for the year - among the highest in the world.
Price increases were the sharpest for housing, food and alcoholic beverages, and restaurants and hotels.
President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government has introduced mandatory price cuts and rent controls in a bid to rein in the increases but has not managed to get the inflationary spiral under control.
Inflation has been aggravated by severe shortages of basic goods.
The central bank has not published the index that measures the shortages since March, when it found that 19 categories of key products were experiencing "serious supply problems."
Falling crude prices have taken an added toll on a country that gets 96% of its foreign currency from oil.
According to Maduro, Venezuela's oil export price has plunged from $95 a barrel in September to $48 today.
