*The Observatorio Venezolano de Finanzas (OVF), an independent economic think tank, has calculated that Venezuela’s monthly inflation rate in August was 2.8%, bringing the annual rate to 52.0%. This was down from the OVF’s estimate for July, when it put monthly inflation at 4.0% and annual inflation at 62.0%. The OVF said that monthly inflation in August was driven by price increases in the categories of communications (+6.4%), rental accommodation (+4.3%), services (+4.2%), and household appliances (+3.3%).