Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel economics laureate visiting Venezuela, said developing nations must strike a balance between public and private control of the economy.
After meeting in the presidential palace with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, Stiglitz praised the South American country’s success at distributing its oil income among citizens. He urged the government to ensure its economic policies are leading to sustainable growth.
``What’s fundamental is to have a balance in the role of the market and the government in the economy,’’ Stiglitz said at a forum on emerging markets sponsored by a local bank. ``We have to realize it’s not just about setting interest rates, but also about supporting growth.’’
The Nobel Prize winner said Venezuela’s economic growth in recent years has been ``impressive.’’ (...)
Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of crude oil to the United States, had an 8.9 percent economic growth rate in the second quarter, its fifteenth straight quarter of expansion. Increased consumer demand and government spending has pushed inflation to 15.3 percent, the highest in Latin America.
Stiglitz said during his speech today that relatively high inflation isn’t necessarily harmful to economic growth, and that central-bank autonomy shouldn’t be ``excessive.’’
Chavez plans to formally do away with the Venezuelan central bank’s independence later this year through a rewrite of the constitution.
(...) The economist’s trip to Caracas follows a series of high- profile visits from U.S. citizens interested in the South American nation’s so-called ``Bolivarian’’ socialist revolution.
Actors Kevin Spacey and Sean Penn visited Caracas earlier this year and were received by President Chavez.
