Venezuela April Retail Sales Drop From Previous Month

Venezuelan retail sales slowed in April from a month earlier as the government raised interest rates and reduced liquidity to cool the economy and consumption. Retail sales, including cars and motorcycles, fell 0.9 percent from March, the central bank said today on its Web site. Sales grew 38 percent from a year earlier, exceeding a forecast by three economists in a Bloomberg survey. Record oil prices have spurred government spending and stoked consumer demand in Venezuela, the largest crude producer in the Western Hemisphere, during the past four years. Negative real interest rates and surging inflation make saving unattractive and promote spending. The government has raised interest rates twice this year. ``Like it or not, this government has implemented a macroeconomic adjustment strategy,'' said Boris Segura, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. ``They've hiked interest rates and kept a lid on public expenditure.''