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INTERVIEW-Shared wealth behind Venezuela 'wellbeing' rating

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:53 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Recent Gallup poll showed Venezuelan feel thriving

* Statistics chief says social spending has spread wealth

By Frank Jack Daniel

CARACAS, April 28 (Reuters) - Despite mediocre economic data, Venezuelans feel they are thriving because President Hugo Chavez's government has focused on narrowing a wealth gap and increasing social spending, the country's statistics chief said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, a Gallup poll placed Venezuela fifth in a ranking of countries by the "wellbeing" their citizens felt. (http://link.reuters.com/xaq29r)

The poll came as a surprise to many because of lackluster economic results in the OPEC nation. Inflation was 27 percent last year and the economy contracted by 1.4 percent.

"Economic growth is very important, however, if government policies are not aimed at redistributing wealth, obviously this does not translate into improved living conditions for the population," said Elias Eljuri, head of the National Statistics Institute.

Eljuri, who has been active in left-wing political movements for decades, said the socialist government had spent $330 billion on health, education and social services since Chavez took office in 1999.

"The Chavez government has put the human being first," British-trained Eljuri said in an office suite adorned with exhortations from revolutionary Che Guevara to fight bureaucracy.

"We have invested in health and education and today we have the second best rate of higher education in Latin America."

University attendance has more than doubled to 2.3 million students during the Chavez government, Eljuri said.

He said inequality of wealth in Venezuela was now the lowest in Latin America and overall poverty had reduced to 26 percent from 70 percent in 2006.

"There has been redistribution but it is still not enough. We've not reached total equality here, far from it," he said.

Critics of the Chavez government say the fall in poverty is in response to a massive surge in government income due to booming oil prices in recent years, rather than sustainable wealth creation policies. (Editing by Daniel Wallis and Cynthia Osterman)