Venezuela’s woes bring Latin America poverty reduction to a halt

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http://www.humanosphere.org/world-politics/2015/01/venezuelas-woes-brings-latin-america-poverty-reduction-halt/

Venezuela’s woes bring Latin America poverty reduction to a halt


After years of substantial improvements in Latin America’s poverty rates, a new report shows that since 2012 rates have stalled and that the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased.

About 28 percent of the people in the region live in poverty, totaling about 167 million people. Nearly half of those people live in extreme poverty, with the extreme poverty rate rising 0.4 percentage points to 11.7 percent in 2013.

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The report, published by ECLAC, did have some bright spots. Poverty declined in the majority of the 12 countries with data available. Paraguay is the stand-out of the group with its poverty rate falling from 49.6 percent in 2011 to 40.7 percent in 2013. Other notable gains were seen in El Salvador, Colombia, Peru and Chile. Other countries showed marginal improvements, but it is in Venezuela where poverty jumped between 2012 and 2013.

The country is is the midst of an economic disaster. With an inflation rate above 60 percent caused by a recession, the sharp decline in global oil prices dealt a potentially mortal blow to the economy. Basic goods like toilet paper are hard to come by, forcing people to wait in line for hours just to meet their daily needs. The economy will contract by 7 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund predicts. The hardship is creating civil unrest and more people live below the poverty line.