On Tuesday, a study published by 3 of the most prestigious universities in Venezuela : the Andrés Bello Catholic University, the Central University of Venezuela and the Simón Bolívar University, revealed that in 2019, Venezuela had exceeded the level of poverty of Haiti to become the poorest country in Latin America (Haiti 2nd) and the second in the world after Nigeria.

Besides Venezuela and Haiti, the other countries in the region that have been placed in the poverty bracket of the table are Guatemala, Ecuador, Cuba, Bolivia and Colombia.

The report says that the Venezuelan economy has contracted systematically to more than double digits in each of the past five years, leading the country to lose more than 70% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The economic collapse condemned 96.2% of the population to fall below the poverty line and 79.3% of the population to live in conditions of extreme poverty, reveals the study stressing that accelerated increase in extreme poverty has occurred since Nicolás Maduro ruled the country (2013), dropping from the poverty level of 11.4% (2013), to 20.6% (2014), 29.8% (2015), 50, 8% (2016), 63.7% (2017), 76.5% (2018) and 79.30% in 2019.

The study warns that 8 out of 10 Venezuelans do not earn enough money to cover their daily food needs, adding that the country has an average daily income equivalent to 72 cents US... University researchers point out that Venezuelan economic problems are further exacerbated by hyperinflation and a pronounced shortage in public services, which condemn millions of people to suffer from an insufficient supply of electricity, drinking water and transport.

This year, the situation will get even worse, warned Venezuelan economist Orlando Ochoa "There will still be a fall, both because of the effect of the coronavirus and because of the sanctions and the effects of the accumulated deterioration." However, he underlines "Venezuela's economy has collapsed but could quickly develop again because it has infrastructures and installed capacities that other countries do not have [...] Haiti, for example, doesn’t has neither the economic structure of Venezuela, nor the capital of Venezuelans abroad," adding "But to recover, we would first need a political change in order to boost investment in the country."

SL/ HaitiLibre