Venezuelan Third-Quarter GDP Grows 9.8 Percent on Spending

Venezuela´s economy grew for an eighth quarter in the July-through-September period as President Hugo Chavez boosted government spending, targeting the poor with subsidies on food and medical services, and doling out scholarships for literacy classes and job training.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of a country´s production of goods and services, expanded 9.8 percent in the third quarter from the year-earlier period after growing 8.8 percent in the first half, the central bank said in a statement.

A 38 percent increase in government spending in the first eighth months of 2005 will probably help the economy expand 9.5 percent this year after 18 percent growth last year, and contractions of 7.7 percent in 2003 and 8.9 percent in 2002, analysts insist.

The oil industry grew 4.2 percent while non-oil GDP grew 10.4 percent. Construction surged 18.4 percent and manufacturing jumped 9.3 percent during the third quarter, the central bank´s report points out.