International Monetary Fund says Venezuela inflation may hit 720%

Jan 22 Venezuela’s opposition said on Friday it would not approve President Nicolas Maduro’s “economic emergency” decree in congress as it did not offer solutions for the OPEC nation’s increasingly disastrous recession.

The leader of the pro-government bloc in the assembly, Hector Rodriguez, earlier said members of Maduro’s economic cabinet “will not take part” in the session.

The opposition argues that Maduro is the country’s real problem, and have stated their desire to remove Maduro, via resignation or referendum, by mid-2016.

Underlying the grave situation in Venezuela – where the oil price plunge has compounded dysfunctional policies – the International Monetary Fund forecast an 8 percent drop in GDP and 720 percent inflation this year.

Venezuela has the world’s biggest known crude reserves but the price of oil has slumped over the past year and a half, slashing its revenues.

“With this government’s policies, we have no possibility (of resolving the crisis)”, Jose Guerra, who heads the opposition-led congressional commission examining Maduro’s decree, told local TV. Critics of the socialist revolution kicked off by late President Hugo Chavez took control of congress last month for the first time in 17 years.

WSB-TV shared that the decree proposed by Maduro aimed to give the President wider authority and power to control the budget and the currency for 60 days.

Majority leader Julio Borges mentioned that they are not closing any doors for now.

The IMF expects Mexico’s economy, Latin America’s second largest, to have grown by 2.5 percent past year, above the 2.25 percent notched in 2014.

“On the contrary, today we opened the door to a serious discussion”.

Maduro’s economic team pulled out, accusing the opposition of trying to turn the assembly into a “show”.

Analysts say the political deadlock threatens to worsen the hardship that drove voters to hand the opposition a landslide election victory last month.

Annualized inflation in September hit a painful 141.5 percent, fueled by crippling shortages.

He vowed to overhaul the country’s system of production to shift it away from the oil revenue on which his social spending programmes have relied.