Venezuela's 2023 inflation hit nearly 190%, but December prices barely ticked up

[January 13, 2024]  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's annual inflation rate settled at 189.8% last year, according to data from the central bank released on Friday, marking a slight easing of the still sky-high rate of rising consumer prices in the South American nation's battered economy.   

A customer pays for shoes with cash in a store at a shopping center during Black Friday sales, in Caracas, Venezuela November 25, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

The inflation rate during the previous year clocked in at 234%, one of the highest inflation rates anywhere in the world.

But Venezuela's monthly inflation for December eased to just 2.4%, according to the bank.

While Venezuela's economy has suffered a prolonged meltdown marked by triple-digit inflation and a mass exodus of millions of migrants seeking better prospects elsewhere, its inflation rate is no longer Latin America's steepest since Argentina's sped past 200% last year.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)

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