Venezuela's economy grew at its slowest pace in more than four years in the first quarter as investment and non-oil exports declined

Venezuela's economy grew at its slowest pace in more than four years in the first quarter as investment and non-oil exports declined. Gross domestic product expanded 4.8 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said today in a statement, the slowest pace since 2003's third quarter. Growth trailed the 6.7 percent median forecast from 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The central bank raised consumer interest rates twice this year and the government sold $4 billion in bonds last month to drain liquidity in a bid to cool economic growth and curb Latin America's highest inflation rate. The economy in Venezuela, the Western Hemisphere's largest oil producer, has grown 12.1 percent on average during the past four years as the government tapped surging oil revenue to increase social spending. ``We interpret this drop in growth as a necessary adjustment made to balance out supply and demand,'' Alejandro Puente, an economist at Banco Provincial SA in Caracas, said before today's data release.