Venezuela Manufacturing Declines Most in Two Years

Venezuelan industrial production fell 7.9 percent in March from a year earlier, the biggest decline since April 2006, as labor stoppages and import delays slowed output. Manufacturing fell 4.4 percent from the previous month, the central bank said today on its Web site. Production has grown 2 percent in the first three months of the year. ``This shows the supply response of the economy is suffering,'' said Boris Segura, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. ``There are a whole host of factors that are causing this unwelcome development.'' Venezuela's economy grew 4.8 percent in the first quarter, the slowest in four years, as the government curbed consumption by raising interest rates in a bid to cool inflation. Demand fueled by government spending has outpaced supply in recent years as government controls hinder production and stimulate a surge of imports.