Venzuelan government raises minimum wage by 50 percent
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is pictured during a television program in the capital, Caracas, on January 8, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has ordered a 50-percent raise in the minimum wage and pensions with the declared objective of helping workers amid an intense economic crisis and soaring inflation.
According to Press TV, Maduro announced on Sunday that he had decided to raise the minimum wage to 40 bolivars (60 dollars) to help public workers, the armed forces, and pensioners.
“In times of economic war and mafia attacks... we must protect employment and workers’ income,” he said on TV.
The minimum wage of Venezuelans has been increased by a cumulative 322 percent since February 2016.
The Latin American country, which has the world’s highest inflation rate, is facing severe shortages of food, medicine, and basic household goods. In its third year of a deep recession, it is grappling with a high unemployment rate.
Maduro blames the economic crisis on what he says is a US-sponsored ploy, which according to him is aimed at destabilizing the country.
Opposition groups, however, criticize the president for his economic mismanagement. They say constant minimum wage raises are proof of his policy failures.
ME
