Venezuela June inflation speeds up to 1.8 percent

Venezuela's consumer prices rose by a greater-than-expected 1.8 percent in June, accelerating from a 1.7 percent rise in May as strong public spending and oil income spur the highest inflation in Latin America.
The central bank, which released the data on Monday, said the Opec nation's 12-month inflation to June was 19.4 percent compared to 11.9 percent the year before - figures that will reinforce economists' concerns the economy is overheating.
In the first half of 2007, the CPI rose 7.8 percent, speeding up from a 5.5 percent increase in the first half of last year, the bank added in a statement . Last week, the median forecast for June inflation of seven financial institutions surveyed by Reuters was 1.6 percent.