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Nicaragua Says
Inflation Falling, To Tackle Crisis
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Nicaragua Says Inflation
Falling, To Tackle
Crisis
Managua (Reuters) -
President Daniel Ortega
said on Tuesday
inflation in Nicaragua
will moderate in 2009
amid slower economic
growth, and pledged to
seek aid from
multinational lenders to
weather the global
economic slowdown.
Ortega, a former Cold
War Marxist rebel who
first ruled Nicaragua in
the 1980s, said he saw
inflation below 10
percent this year.
Inflation in Nicaragua,
one of Latin America's
poorest countries,
reached 13.77 percent
last year.
But he said economic
growth would also likely
slow to 2 percent in
2009, compared to 3.2
percent last year.
Nicaragua, a textile
exporter to the United
States, has a loan
agreement with the
International Monetary
Fund and has agreed to
control inflation, which
hit 16.88 percent in
2007, driven by higher
food prices.
Ortega said in a speech
that his government was
seeking $500 million
from the Inter-American
Development Bank and the
Central American Bank
for Economic Integration
to improve
infrastructure and
increase production
despite the downturn.
He also pledged to cut
government waste and
seek new farm markets in
former Cold War ally
Russia.
"If we don't establish a
policy of saving, there
won't be anything left
for anyone," said
Ortega, who returned to
power in 2007, adding
that he planned to make
$66 million in savings.
(Reporting by Ivan
Castro; Editing by Kim
Coghill)
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