BLOOMBERG/ Venezuela's central bank reported that its GDP suffered a 1.9% decline... for the fifth consecutive quarter...because of limited access to foreign currency and electricity rationing that hurt manufacturing. The contraction was less than the 5.7% median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of eight economists. Foreign economists now estimate that the GDP there will shrink 4.1% in 2010, and according to the IMF, makes Venezuela the sole nation in Latin America whose economy will decline this year.
