Venezuela's inflation rate could pass 2,300% next year, IMF warns
In its global report released on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that inflation within crisis-laden Venezuela could skyrocket to more than 2,300% by 2018.
While the South American country stopped reporting economic data in 2015, the international organization aggregated statistics to estimate that last year inflation clocked in around 254%. It projects that amid the ongoing social, political and economic crisis, that number could rise to more than 650% this year and nearly 2,349% by 2018, Fox News reports.
Venezuela far outpaces the IMF’s inflation estimates for every other country, the next closest on the list being the Democratic Republic of Congo with a projected inflation rate of 44% in 2018.
Additionally, the IMF predicts the “intensification of the political crisis in Venezuela” will lead to a further decrease in economic output. The country’s economy is expected to shrink by 12% this year and another 6% next year.