HANNAH DREIER
Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s central bank has announced that the South American country’s inflation rate is continuing its upward march.

After withholding monthly inflation data through the summer, the central bank said Tuesday that inflation over the past 12 months has reached 63.4 percent. It’s believed to be the world’s fiercest inflation.

The new numbers are the worst inflation recorded in the socialist country since the bank began tracking prices nationwide in 2008, though not the fastest inflation the country has experienced in recent history.

Venezuela’s bolivar currency plunged to a record low in black market trading this month, bringing a fourteenth of its official value. The weakening has hurt investment and makes basic goods harder to find.

The bank had drawn criticism for halting the publication of its inflation and scarcity indexes.

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