More than half of Venezuela's population still lived in poverty in 2023, in a context of persistent income inequality and weakening effects of a tepid economic recovery, according to research by a university institute.
The National Survey of Living Conditions (Encovi), published this Wednesday by the Social Research Institute of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), showed that 51.9% of the country's population continued to live in poverty last year, a number slightly higher compared to 2022.
After years of economic collapse and high inflation that led seven million people to leave the country, there was a slight economic recovery, but the number of poor people was not substantially reduced.
In 2022, multidimensional poverty, which reflects income level, access to services, education and health, was 50.5%.
According to the study, the improvement slowed down last year and fewer families managed to escape poverty, despite the existence of some social income transfer and food distribution programs.
“It is true that (direct State) transfers have increased, but they should be concentrated in vulnerable sectors,” said Luis Pedro España, sociologist and researcher at Encovi, referring to payments other than salaries made by the government and which, in his opinion , should be allocated more efficiently to the poorest people.
The Venezuelan economy recovered at the end of 2021, after President Nicolás Maduro's government relaxed economic controls and allowed transactions in foreign currencies in 2019, giving oxygen to several sectors. However, since last year, some economic activities have shown signs of slowing down due to lower consumption in the country.
Analysts pointed out that informal dollarization and deregulations were not sufficient for the full recovery of the economy and said that the orthodox policy of anchoring the exchange rate and controlling public spending to contain rising prices is not sustainable.
Annualized inflation in February was 75.91%.
Income inequalities continue in Venezuela. The difference between the richest 10% and the poorest 10% is almost 35 times. The per capita income of the poorest stratum is 10 dollars per month. The highest is $347.2, according to Encovi.
The study, carried out since 2014 to overcome the lack of official data, interviewed families in 16,212 households in the country between March and May 2023.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
