Venezuela's Economy Grows 9.8% In Third Quarter

Venezuela's economy grows 9.8 pct in third quarter

http://today.reuters.com/PrinterFrie...P-UPDATE-1.XML

(Gold9472: We can't STAND for this! :no-no: )

Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:34 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Venezuela's economy grew 9.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, helped by high oil prices, public spending and growth in the construction and commerce sectors, the central bank said on Thursday.

The oil sector grew 4.2 percent while the country's non-oil economic sectors expanded 10.4 percent. The private sector expanded 11.1 percent in the quarter compared with 5.4 percent growth in the public sector.

Government officials expect the Venezuelan economy to grow by as much as 10 percent this year.

The South American country has registered strong growth this year after a referendum win by leftist President Hugo Chavez in August 2004 ended months of political instability that had battered the economy since a 2002 coup.

Venezuela's gross domestic product shrank in 2002 and 2003.

Venezuela posted a balance of payments current account surplus of $7.59 billion in the third quarter compared with $3.65 billion a year earlier.

The capital and finance portion of the balance of payments recorded a deficit of $5.07 billion for the quarter. Strict foreign exchange controls put in place to stop capital flight in early 2003 have limited access to hard currency and bolstered international reserves.