Without Chávez, can Nicaragua grow by 5 percent?

Nicaragua’s economic prospects might look slightly less certain these days following the recent death of chief benefactor Hugo Chávez, but the Sandinista government notched another year of record growth in 2012 while the getting was good.

With its combination of socialist rhetoric and capitalist practices, the administration of President Daniel Ortega led Nicaragua to an impressive 5.2 percent economic expansion last year.

The central bank’s newly “revised” numbers from last week also show that Nicaragua’s economy grew by 5.4 percent in 2011— up seven-tenths of a percentage point from the 4.7 percent annual growth originally reported.