By Deisy Buitrago
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that minimum income for workers will be $130 a month, without explaining what bonuses for public sector employees and pensioners will be included in that total or whether the monthly minimum wage will increase.
Maduro announced the change amid demands by workers for salary increases, months ahead of presidential elections in which he is seeking a third term.
Wage increases have failed to keep pace with double- and triple-digit annual inflation recorded over the past year. Consumer prices increased 67.75% year-on-year through March.
The monthly minimum wage of 130 bolivares, equivalent to $3.5 at the official rate, has not been adjusted since March 2022, but the government has paid out bonuses to public sector employees and retirees, raising them to $100 in February of this year.
“Today I decide to raise the comprehensive minimum income of workers to $130 at least,” Maduro said at an event marking International Workers’ Day. “We are going to recover the income of workers, the income of the country, step by step.”
Maduro’s government this year has intensified efforts to bring inflation down to two digits, as it looks to slightly increase social spending ahead of the vote.
Unions of teachers, university professors, healthcare workers and others have demanded salary adjustments to compensate for losses to inflation over the last few years.
The cost of basic food for a family is more than $500 per month, according to the teachers’ union.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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