Venezuela 2016 inflation hits 800 percent, GDP shrinks 19 percent: document

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan consumer prices rose 800 percent in 2016 while the economy contracted by 18.6 percent, according to preliminary central bank figures seen by Reuters, the sharpest contraction in 13 years and the worst inflation reading on record.

The extended slump in oil prices has turned the OPEC nation's once-prosperous oil-boom economy into a mirror of the latter day Soviet Union, with rampant product shortages leading leaving to skip meals and wait hours in food lines.

President Nicolas Maduro's government blames the situation on an "economic war" led by political adversaries with the help of the United States. As problems mounted, the central bank has stopped releasing quarterly and monthly economic indicators.

The oil sector, which provides nearly all of Venezuela's hard currency, in 2016 shrank 12.7 percent, according to an excerpt of a document containing the figures that was shown to Reuters. The non-oil sector shrank by 19.5 percent, according to the document.