Venezuela's economy grew 17% in Q1, says central bank president

A man sells lettuce on a street near the municipal market in the popular neighborhood of Catia in Caracas, Venezuela June 11, 2022. Picture taken June 11, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

CARACAS, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s economy grew 17.04% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, the country’s central bank president said on Tuesday.

“This is the highest growth in the Latin American region,” central bank President Calixto Ortega said in a state broadcast, giving the first official data on Venezuela’s economic growth since the first quarter of 2019.

Ortega said the central bank has an estimate for second-quarter growth, but did not share the figure. He did say the private sector rebounded 18.7% in that period.

The central bank president added that the Venezuelan economy grew 19.07% in the fourth…