The preliminary results of the yearly Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida [Life Conditions Survey] (ENCOVI) for 2018 were released today, and they paint a grim picture of the effect that the country’s continued economic collapse is having on the average Venezuelan.
According to the survey, a staggering 92% of Venezuelans live below the poverty line, while 60% have “precarious” access to social services. Taken together, the figures provide hard evidence that the Maduro regime’s economic policies continue to fail on an unprecedented level.
Below, some of the survey’s other findings:
- 18-24 year old males are the hardest hit by the crisis. The youth unemployment rate is 20%.
- The unemployment rate is 10%, up from 9% in 2017.
- 94% of respondents claim that they do not earn enough money to take care of their necessities.
- The number of youth aged 3 to 24 who are in school fell to 70% from 78% in 2017.
The preliminary results also estimate that approximately 1.5 million Venezuelans chose to leave the country between 2013 and 2018.
The ENCOVI survey is arguably the largest and most important survey conducted in Venezuela. It is conducted every year by a team of academics from the country’s three leading universities: the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), the Universidad Simon Bolivar (USB), and the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (UCAB).
BsS, Devalued 43.37%
The Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) confirmed today that the country’s currency, the Bolivar Soberano (BsS.) was devalued 43.37% today. The devaluation came from the fact that the official exchange rate–which is set by the BCV–listed the price of one U.S. dollar at BsS. 151.64. The price yesterday was BsS. 85.87.
Henkel Garcia, an economist with the Econometrica firm, told El Universal that the regime’s monetary policy “does not at all” follow market logic.
Just yesterday, Maduro bragged in a televised address that the economic measures he was taking as president are “not in any manual”.
Oil Production Falls to 1930s Levels
National Assembly deputy Jose Guerra gave a press conference today in which he said that Venezuela’s oil production figures are now at the same level that they were in the 1930s, when the industry was just in its infancy.
During the press conference, Guerra cited officials figures from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showing that Venezuela produced an average of 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in October. For Guerra, Venezuela has no choice but to heal the oil industry, given the fact that it is the country’s primary source of income.
The country has to stop the fall in oil production in an emergency basis because we’re losing something like 42,000 barrels [per day] each month].
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In Venezuela 