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President Nicolás Maduró welcomed the growth of the Venezuelan economy in 2023 and anticipated 8% growth for this year in his annual message to the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party. Likewise, the president criticized the presidents of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, and the Argentine Javier Milei, and described the latter as a “mistake” for Latin America.
Venezuela's economy grew around 5% in 2023 and growth will reach 8% this year, as announced by President Nicolás Maduro on Monday, January 15, during his annual speech before the legislature allied to the Government.
“We can report that Venezuela's comprehensive economic growth during the year 2023 exceeded 5% of GDP and was the highest growth in Latin America and the Caribbean,” the president said before the National Assembly.
And he said that this data with which he closed last year is “another of the achievements and conquests” achieved in “times of persecution and blockade.”
The Bolivarian nation closed 2023 with an inflation of 193% annuallybeing a little lower than expected, according to reports from the Venezuelan Finance Observatory.
The consumer price index for December (3.9%) and November (1.9%) were the lowest recorded in Venezuelaafter many months with high prices.
However, Maduro's speech was marked by some controversies, such as praise for teachers, who are on strike to demand better salaries, and he targeted the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador.
“Long live the teachers of our country, anonymous heroes, heroes and heroines,” said the president, while hundreds of them are in the streets of the capital, Caracas, and several regions to protest against the salaries “of hunger”, as they denounce.
The Venezuelan president assured the teachers that they can count on him, as a “worker president”, who “will always accompany them, grateful for the work they do.”
According to the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (FVM), some educators in the public sector earn the minimum salary set by the Executive at 130 bolivars (equivalent today to about 3.61 dollars per month) and those at the highest level earn about 22 dollars per month, while that the basic food basket, for a family of five people, has a cost of 522 dollars, according to union estimates, which were cited by EFE.
Maduro attacks Milei and Noboa
On the other hand, Maduro attacked Argentine President Javier Milei and called him “a fatal mistake in the history of Argentina.”
Maduro said that the far-right Argentine leader came to “colonize Argentina and hand it over to North American imperialism” and told him that “that is not the way.” “You're wrong, Milei,” he asserted.
He also criticized Ecuador's president, Daniel Noboa, for receiving help from the US Southern Command to handle the security crisis in his country.
With EFE and Reuters
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