Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accompanied by National Assembly President Jorge RodrĂguez and Attorney General Tarek William Saab, presents his annual address at the National Assembly, January 15, 2024. Photo: EFE.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced an increase in the economic warfare bonus paid monthly to public sector workers. Starting from February 1, it will rise to the equivalent in bolĂvars of $60 per month (previously it was $30). The food bonus will remain $40 per month. In this way, the minimum comprehensive indexed income rises from $70 to $100 per month, representing an increase of more than 42.8%, and an increase of 566% compared to April 2023, when indexed bonuses did not exist.
These special bonuses are not part of the base salary paid to Venezuelan workers, thus they do not have any impact on vacation, professional, seniority, and end-of-year bonuses or retirement packages, for which many workers in Venezuela hope. The current minimum wage for public sector workers is stagnated at the equivalent of $3.5 per month, something used recurrently by mainstream media and opposition political parties to attack Maduro’s administration.
An ordinary Venezuelan worker in the public sector, who in recent years earned less than those in the private sector, with the special bonuses, the minimum wage, and other special bonuses paid via the Patria System, currently might receive a monthly income of approximately $110, the lowest in Latin America.
After the Bolivarian Revolution and the arrival of Hugo Chávez to the presidency of Venezuela, the situation was the opposite: Venezuelan workers were among the best paid in the region. This trend began to change in 2015 when the United States and the European Union started imposing unilateral coercive measures against the country.
During his annual address on Monday, January 15, President Maduro pointed out that at the beginning of 2023 Venezuelans lost purchasing due to the scarcity of resources, due to which “a new and virtuous mechanism” was designed through the indexed comprehensive minimum income. “It was a bold step,” President Maduro commented. “I thought about it very carefully and on May 1 [2023] I announced that the workers’ minimum comprehensive income would be increased, and we did it. We created the indexed economic warfare bonus.”
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“We have created a mechanism that has proven to be successful, that has demonstrated its relevance, and that we can be sustained over time: the Indexed Minimum Comprehensive Income,” he added.
He further noted that, before May 2023, the minimum income was $15 per month, but with the announcement of the indexed bonus made at that time, it was raised to $70 per month ($30 for the economic warfare bonus and $40 for the food bonus, both paid in bolĂvars). “It was a success,” he continued. “That was nine months ago. Having verified that it works, we have decided to raise the minimum comprehensive income from $70 to $100, starting from February 1. So we increase the economic warfare bonus to $60, and the food bonus remains $40.”
President Maduro added that, in nine months (from May 1, 2023), “we have increased the indexed comprehensive minimum income by 500%. No one has done this anywhere! Nobody does this in the world. We are working a lot. I ask for the support of the working class and the workers.”
UPDATE 19JAN2024: This piece was corrected in the percentage of the overall bonus increase. We wrongfully wrote it was 66% when in reality it was 42.8%.
(Alba Ciudad) by Luigino Bracci Roa, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
