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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela's consumption shrinks for second year in a row |
| 2010-12-09 |
| [El Universal] Venezuela's consumption rate was characterized by slowdown in 2010. After showing high levels of growth in previous years, it downsized for second year in a row. Luis Vicente León, the director of polling firm Datanalisis reported that domestic consumption has fallen 3.3 percent this year, similar to the drop in 2009, when the economic downturn amounted to 3.2 percent. This slowdown, which amounts to 7-8 percent in the past two years, has created pessimism in Venezuelan consumers who "consider they have lost their quality of life." The pollster said that the fall is mainly due to falling purchasing power of salaries, which have averaged a 20-percent decline, in real terms, over the past three years. All this has been compounded by a contraction of consumer credit, because the use of credit cards fell nearly 8 percent while auto loans slipped 30 percent. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 The socialist model proving once again just how successful it is. [sarc] |
| Posted by: Mikey Hunt 2010-12-09 12:04 |
| #2 ...and soon soylent green. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-12-09 07:08 |
| #1 Going green. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-12-09 07:01 |