Thursday, March 02, 2006
Economic notes
A couple economic odds and ends came out today that may be of interest.
First, remember the Venezuelan purchase of Venezuelan bonds that the opposition has been yelping about. As reported before, a lot of them have since been sold to private investors and banks that wanted to buy them. Today the Finance Minister, Nelson Merentes, mentioned that Venezuela has made a $75 million profit on the bonds it has sold so far. Thats probably more than the dollar value of the oil discounts that Citgo has given in the U.S. and that a lot of opposition types have been losing sleep over. Hopefully this news will help them sleep easier.
Secondly, there is good news on the inflation front. Not only is inflation going down but the consumer price index actually was a NEGATIVE .4% in February. Yes, that means prices dropped. The main factor in the drop was a decrease in the cost of basic foodstuffs resulting from increased supply of them.
And to think the opposition has been warning about inflation being about to spin out of control at any moment. Looking at the graph below of annualized inflation rates it looks like it is doing anything but:
So the nervous nellies in the opposition should stop being so nervous.
|
First, remember the Venezuelan purchase of Venezuelan bonds that the opposition has been yelping about. As reported before, a lot of them have since been sold to private investors and banks that wanted to buy them. Today the Finance Minister, Nelson Merentes, mentioned that Venezuela has made a $75 million profit on the bonds it has sold so far. Thats probably more than the dollar value of the oil discounts that Citgo has given in the U.S. and that a lot of opposition types have been losing sleep over. Hopefully this news will help them sleep easier.
Secondly, there is good news on the inflation front. Not only is inflation going down but the consumer price index actually was a NEGATIVE .4% in February. Yes, that means prices dropped. The main factor in the drop was a decrease in the cost of basic foodstuffs resulting from increased supply of them.
And to think the opposition has been warning about inflation being about to spin out of control at any moment. Looking at the graph below of annualized inflation rates it looks like it is doing anything but:
So the nervous nellies in the opposition should stop being so nervous.
|
