A decision by Venezuela’s president to curb legislative oversight of the central bank has increased the embattled country’s prospects of sliding into hyperinflation, according to analysts. The tactic is the latest in a power struggle between the incumbent Nicolás Maduro and the new opposition-led legislature due to be sworn in on Tuesday and comes as the oil-rich country is gripped by a tumultuous political, social and economic crisis. Mr Maduro’s decree, published on Monday but dated from last week, strips away the legislature’s controls over the central bank, including the power to appoint and sack directors. “The full discretional presidential control over the central bank is the ultimate tool for sliding into hyperinflation in Venezuela,” said Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan economist and visiting professor at Harvard University. “Maduro made the central bank his personal minting ministry, in a country where the constitution establishes an independent central bank.” Inflation data had been kept under wraps, until last month when Mr Maduro said it was close to 100 per cent. But Asdrúbal Oliveros, head economist at the Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalítica, said December ended with inflation surpassing the 200 per cent barrier, fuelled by the government printing money to fund a fiscal deficit estimated at 20 per cent of gross domestic product.