Crisis in Venezuela: What can you buy with the new minimum wage approved by Maduro

The announcement of a further increase in the minimum wage in Venezuela the member of Parliament National Constituent Assembly and former Minister of Labor Francisco Torrealbat.

Torrealba explained that the 300,000 bolivars are divided into 150,000 of salary, plus another 150,000 of the call "socialist ticket basket", a bonus for buying food that is given to workers.

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The announcement is quickly woken up criticism. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó called the measure "insufficient" and said "no one touches the minimum wage in Venezuela".

And there was no lack of those who they mocked in social networks.

The opposition leader Juan Guaidó He called the measure "insufficient" and stated that "no one touches the minimum wage in Venezuela".

Venezuela hyperinflation, a sharp rise in prices, which weighed on the purchasing power of Venezuelans.

The cost of proteins

BBC World He went Tuesday in a supermarket in Caracas to see what it was possible to acquire for the price of the new minimum wage.

A liter of milk, to quote a very consumed article in the houses, costed in this establishment, located in a bourgeois district of the city, 38,000 bolivars.

A kilogram of rice was located in the 21,000 bolivarswhile salt remained around 18,000.

Buy protein becomes words older.

he kilo of minced meat The chicken rubs 50,000 bolivars, while the dozen eggs cost 35,000 euros. So with ten packs of 12 eggs, the monthly salary would have evaporated.

If we want to afford to buy cheesethe thing becomes even more complicated.

The only one they had for sale in this company was in 290,000 bolivars the kilo. That is, one kilogram of this cheese would have consumed almost all the wages of a worker earning a minimum wage.

Although it is true that many employees Venezuelans they receive higher amounts or other consideration for their services, the minimum wage remains that which, in many cases, is billed by officials and employees.

Venezuela has been living for years serious crisis which is reflected in the severe contraction of its economy. According to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), the country has lost more than half of its gross domestic product since the arrival of Nicolás Maduro (2013).

A lot experts, as well as the opposition and its international allies, led by the United States, blame the government for economic mismanagement.

This, although it admits errors, indicates that Venezuela is undergoing an "economic war" led by the United States in retaliation for its commitment to socialism, and described as "blocking" the sanctions imposed by the government of Donald Trump.

"Repetitive and useless"

One of the consequences of the imbalances of the economy is hyperinflation, which reached 130 060% in 2018, according to BCV data.

To cope with the uncontrollable rise in prices, it has become commonplace for the government to raise the minimum wage, despite the fact that many experts warn that it is so that only the inflationary spiral is won.

Luis Vicente León, president of the consultancy Datanlisis, says that if it is not accompanied by other measures and fundamental changes in the economy, the rise becomes a "repetitive and useless exercise".

In the current context of hyperinflation, and given the dwindling liquidity in local currency, bolivar, dollar transactions are becoming more frequent in Venezuela, although the government has not regulated its use. .

Access to precious currency has become an additional difficulty for the most disadvantaged Venezuelans.

According to UN data, more than 4 million Venezuelans have left the country, in what they consider "the biggest exodus of the recent history of Latin America and the Caribbean", which gives an idea of ​​the magnitude of the crisis in the world. South American country