UPDATE 1-Venezuela 2016 inflation hits 800 pct, GDP contracts nearly 19 pct

Jan 20 Venezuelan consumer prices rose 800 percent in 2016 while the economy shrank 18.6 percent, according to preliminary central bank figures seen by Reuters, the sharpest economic contraction in 13 years and the worst inflation reading on record. An extended slump in oil prices has turned the OPEC nation’s once-prosperous economy into a mirror of the latter day Soviet Union, with rampant product shortages forcing some to skip meals and wait hours in food lines.