Venezuela 2015 inflation may hit 80 pct, Maduro says

Venezuela's inflation rate could reach 80 percent in 2015, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday, this year's first official consumer price data for the OPEC nation, which is struggling with recession amid low oil prices. Maduro in a televised broadcast announced a minimum wage increase of 30 percent as of Nov. 1, which he said that combined with previous minimum wage hikes, would yield a total increase of 137 percent from the start of the year. This is "much greater than what the central bank and the National Statistics Institute inform me will be the induced, speculative, criminal inflation of 2015," said Maduro, who blames business leaders and the opposition for rising prices. More…