Venezuela´s Chinese-technology cellular phone causes consumer frenzy

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CCTV

Venezuela´s Chinese-technology cellular phone causes consumer frenzy
Source: Xinhua | 05-11-2009 10:48

CARACAS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A new C366 cellular phone launched Sunday by a Venezuelan-Chinese joint venture caused consumer frenzy with President Hugo Chavez calling for calmness.

"Do not break down shop doors," Chavez told his weekly radio and television program "Hello President," presenting the new phone which costs 30 bolivars (14 dollars) and has a camera and an MP3 player, considered to be typical features for phones costing hundreds of dollars, along with the normal functions such as games, a calculator and an address book.

Also on the show, Chavez made his first call using the phone, also known as the Vergatario, to his mother, Elena Frias, and gave her a model of the cell phone as a Mothers' Day gift.

The phone was made by Venezuela Communications (Vetelca), a joint venture 85 percent of which is owned by Venezuela's state-run cellphone company Movilnet and 15 percent by the ZTE Corporation, a Chinese telecoms equipment provider and mobile phone producer.



Read more: http://www.cctv.com/english/20090511/104264.shtmlCC

[bananas]

1. bad link - should be ...

this: http://www.cctv.com/english/20090511/104264.shtml

For some reason your link had "CC" at the end.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thank you for making the correction! Don't know how that happened. Yikes. n/t

[ronnie624]

10. Yours is broken too, for some reason.

Here's a different source:

<http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6655034.html>

[Judi Lynn]

30. Ronnie624, you may be surprised at this Guardian treatment of the news concerning the new phone.

No doubt I haven't paid enough attention to their writing, but it's a puzzler they have decided to announce this new product as if they were members of Venezuela's classsist, racist oligarchs. I've never seen them do an article like this, and I've read many of the writers articles before. Can't figure this out!

Chavez launches $15 mobile phone with a name to make his mother blush
Venezuelan president predicts the Vergatario will be a bestseller worldwide
Rory Carroll in Caracas guardian.co.uk,
Monday 11 May 2009 17.15 BST

It is perhaps the world's cheapest mobile phone. It is the latest offering from Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution. And its name is derived from a slang word for penis. Behold the Vergatorio.

Venezuela's president launched the handset on his TV show with a Mother's Day call to his mum and predicted it would conquer all rivals. "This telephone will be the biggest seller not only in Venezuela but the world," he said. "Whoever doesn't have a Vergatario is nothing," he joked.

Priced just $15 (nearly £10), the phone has a camera, WAP internet access, FM radio and MP3 and MP4 players for music and videos. And it has that name.

Why the president chose it remains unclear, but he enunciates each syllable with a grin. Some laugh, others are affronted.

Verga is slang for penis and vergatario is a newly minted word which signifies excellent but retains connotations from its root.

The word verga, and variations of it, are associated with Venezuela's second city, Maracaibo. Residents are famous for swearing and using Spanish verbal constructions uncommon in the rest of Venezuela.

"It's gross. I can't believe they named it something so vulgar," said Leonor Diaz, 52, a cleaner. Others however consider the name playful and harmless.

The newspaper El Universal issued readers a challenge. "Say Vergatario in front of a mirror. Pronounce this obscenity syllable by syllable, slowly, and note the expression on your face."

Chavez, a decade in power, is a shrewd communicator who often uses salty expressions to mark himself out as a man of the people. He called George Bush a "pendejo", a term derived from pubic hair which can be translated as asshole or jerk.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/chavez-venezuela-mobile-phone-vergatorio

In the meantime, millions of Venezuelans who couldn't afford a more expensive phone before will have access to a solid, cheap phone. You'd think that would be the actual focus of an article, wouldn't you?

Of course by now you've long sense no doubt recognized every article the corporate media publishes regarding a country with a leftist leader will ALWAYS contain shots at their President. It seems to be required.

[Judi Lynn]

33. You may be surprised to see this even-handed article from AP.

Can't believe we got a clean article from them on Venezuela after so many years! :wtf:

Posted on Monday, 05.11.09
Venezuela's first locally made cellphone sells out

BY CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
Associated Press
CARACAS -- All 5,000 of Venezuela's first locally produced mobile phones were scooped up by shoppers on the first day, the state-run telephone company said Sunday.

The low-cost model, El Vergatario, has been endorsed by President Hugo Chávez as Venezuela's cheapest cellphone. The phone, which features a radio, camera and MP3 player, sells for $13.95, an attractive price in a country where the minimum pay is about $445 a month.

Jacqueline Farias, president of Movilnet, a subsidiary of the CANTV telephone company, said the first 5,000 phones went on sale Saturday in the capital, Caracas, and were quickly sold out. She said another 5,000 would be available this week.

The maker, Vetelca, which is a joint Venezuelan-Chinese venture, aims to produce one million of the phones within several years, Farias said. The parts are manufactured in China, then assembled in Venezuela.

''We want a cellular phone that is better than those we buy abroad,'' she said.

Chávez applauded the new phone Sunday, saying it would help Venezuela reduce its dependence on imported technology.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/venezuela/story/1042522.html

[ronnie624]

59. Interesting, and not one word about penises. n/t

[Skittles]

2. it's nice to know consumer-madness is not limited to Americans

:(

[Judi Lynn]

31. There's a different situation surrounding products like in Venezuela,

and other Latin American countries with massive poor populations: many of them haven't had phones at all: not one. This applies across the region. It also influences things you'd never consider, like who it is they're actually reaching in their phone polls for politicians, since the poor haven't been reachable anywhere by by pollsters going into their neighborhoods to go door to door, and usually they just don't want to do that: they are afraid of the poor people so they are not represented in most polls unless they go to extreme measures to send people into their areas.

It's not hard at all to grasp why there would be a spontaneous reaction to a product they believe they need but formerly couldn't afford which is suddenly within their reach.

[Rage for Order]

58. Really? Do you have a source for that?

"It's not hard at all to grasp why there would be a spontaneous reaction to a product they believe they need but formerly couldn't afford which is suddenly within their reach."

Because the information I've seen suggests you are way off base.

Venezuelan regulator Conatel has reported that the country’s fixed lines in service reached 6.303 million at the end of 2008, translating to a teledensity of 22.6%, up from 18.5% (5.195 million lines) at end-2007. The watchdog said that mobile subscriptions stood at 27.084 million at end-December, giving a cellular penetration of 97.2%, up from 86.8% (23.820 million mobile phones) a year earlier.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=27406&email=html

You could be right though. The remaining 2.8% of non-mobile subscribers are probably clamoring for these new phones.

[EFerrari]

62. Those numbers don't even make sense.

30% is under 14, unemployment is at about 7%, and about 15% lack basic sanitation. There's no way there can be 97% cell phone subscribers.

I read the article you're citing and there's something wrong with their breakdown. They must mean 97% of some quantity they didn't specify.

[Judi Lynn]

64. Nope, those figures wouldn't make sense, clearly. Here's something I found a moment ago.

This was taken from an "Info please," and shows the following, concerning the total population, and the land lines, and cell phones:

Population (2007 est.): 26,084,662.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 4.216 million (2006); mobile cellular: 12.496 million (2005).

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108140.html

[Rage for Order]

65. The numbers I posted absolutely make sense

The problem is that your numbers are 3-4 years old. See: "mobile cellular: 12.496 million (2005)"

So, 12.5 million cellular phone subscribers at the end of 2005, and now 27 million subscribers at the end of 2008. Why would 27 million subscribers not make sense, aside from the fact that it doesn't fit into your pre-determined view of how things are? The 27 million number comes directly from Conatel, the http://www.conatel.gov.ve">government agency that regulates telecommunications in Venezuela. Here it is in http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.conatel.gov.ve/&ei=1QYKSrWqCuWFmQe2_vDmCw&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dconatel%2Bvenezuela%26hl%3Den">English, in case you would like to see for yourself.

Perhaps Chavez's own government agency, Conatel, is lying about the country having 27 million cellular subscribers at the end of 2008? :shrug:

[joshcryer]

66. This day and age a cell phone is useful for ones livelihood. And it's cheap.

So this isn't entirely mindless consumerism at work.

[LaPera]

3. $14. for a full function phone, gas cost nearly nothing, ALL health care & higher education paid for

and fresh fruits & veggies are in abundance.....I want socialism too!

Venezuela is a warm beautiful tropical country....still, with problems like everywhere else...but socialism is certainly not one of them....

But socialism is certainly a taboo word that one better not speak if one lives in the corporately oppressive capitalism of the USA!

[ngant17]

5. more money being spent on the social sector

"...real (inflation-adjusted) social spending per capita in Venezuela increased by 314 percent from 1998-2006."

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/cepr-paper-responds-to-foreign-affairs-on-venezuela/

[okieinpain]

6. yeah you're right, who cares if chavez is president for life. n/t.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Only if he is elected - not SELECTED like the last USA "president"

.
.
.

sumthing to ponder

. . :freak: . .

[ronnie624]

9. "President for life"

only if he continues to receive a majority of votes every election cycle for the rest of his life, which is highly unlikely. But that is the nature of real choice in democracy.

[bitchkitty]

20. Where is the disconnect that

allows you and your friends to repeat these moronic, untrue catch phrases? I swear, sometimes I think you all have chips implanted or your wires are crossed, or I know - someone put alcohol in your blood surrogate!

Research - look up the word "elected". Then do some specific research on elections in Venezuela in particular. Then come back here if you dare.

[ronnie624]

22. Lol.

Anyone who has been a member here since 2001, has no excuse for repeating such blatantly false memes. They should have long ago encountered the truth of the matter.

[Judi Lynn]

56. They have the entire world overseeing their elections each time, including groups from the States.

There's absolutely no comparison in their cleanliness, transparency to what has been going on here. God.

If I'm not mistaken, we've turned international observers AWAY from oversight here, during _Bush's era.

[WriteDown]

7. There is another solution....

You can move there. Although you may not get what you expect.

[redqueen]

11. The point is social spending = good.

We're about to get shafted with compulsory private insurance.

So yeah... the solution isn't moving there, it's solving our problems here.

[WriteDown]

12. No...

The point is that if government seizures and price caps are so wonderful, and capitalism is so horrible, then people should make the effort to move to a better place rather than lament about it through a keyboard.

On a side note, you make a good point if you apply your logic to illegal immigration in the US.

[redqueen]

13. Yeah.

You're pretty transparent.

[WriteDown]

19. Was that a retort?

:shrug:

[Mudoria]

25. I think so.. not much of one but an attempt at one

:rofl:

[redqueen]

28. It wasn't, actually.

Hardly surprised that escaped your notice, though.

[ronnie624]

16. Like most rightists,

you 'forget' all about the hardships in Venezuela, and the benefits in the U.S., that are a direct result of U.S. intervention there.

[WriteDown]

18. That is not a response to my point. nt

[ronnie624]

23. It was a response

to the general theme of all of your posts about the Bolivarian government of Venezuela: 'Venezuela sucks, and the USA doesn't, and if you don't like it, move there'.

[WriteDown]

24. Ah, I said nothing of the sort...

I haven't been to Venezuela since 2001, but I suggest that those who glorify it, make the trip.

[ronnie624]

14. Ugh!

How I will loathe having to hand my hard earned money over to millionaire insurance executives as a requisite to receiving "health care" that will in no way be equal to that which they receive.

:mad:

[redqueen]

15. Yeah, I guess we should all just move elsewhere.

That's obviously the only logical, sane solution.

[Vidar]

17. Maybe some time in the next century real democracy will spread

back to the United States as well. Viva Chavez!

[Mudoria]

26. You didn't get to vote in the November elections?

[ronnie624]

27. For candidates

who are designated and vetted by elites who own and control most media, and contribute most of the funding to all national campaigns.

How sad that so many consider that genuine democracy.

[Psephos]

34. Great stuff for cheap or even free, for everyone

What's not to like?

And they said there's no such thing as a perpetual free lunch...

All you have to do is take it. ;)

[ronnie624]

60. From an article above:

The phone, which features a radio, camera and MP3 player, sells for $13.95, an attractive price in a country where the minimum pay is about $445 a month.

Average yearly income in Venezuela: $5340

Average yearly income in the USA: $50,233

If you do the math, I'll bet you'll find that at $13.95, Venezuelans will be spending at least as much of their yearly income on a cell phone, as U.S. Americans. As Einstein said, "all is relative", but your attitude toward the working class and poor is noted.

[Psephos]

61. Look! A puppy!

lol

Nice try at diverting, but I didn't mention anything that you impute. Which makes you kind of a reverse Rumpelstiltskin, spinning straw from gold.

PS - actual US per capita income in 2008 was $39,000.

When you say average, by the way, do you mean median? Mean? Mode? Which do you think tells us the most about actual people in VZ or the US?

[bitchkitty]

21. Voy a Venezuela. I wish. n/t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

29. a frenzy - for this? Sounds more like a press release

I have never noticed a lack of cell phones in Venezuela...

[Judi Lynn]

32. This isn't a press release. Maybe it can be of use:

Posted on Monday, 05.11.09
Venezuela's first locally made cellphone sells out

BY CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
Associated Press
CARACAS -- All 5,000 of Venezuela's first locally produced mobile phones were scooped up by shoppers on the first day, the state-run telephone company said Sunday.

The low-cost model, El Vergatario, has been endorsed by President Hugo Chávez as Venezuela's cheapest cellphone. The phone, which features a radio, camera and MP3 player, sells for $13.95, an attractive price in a country where the minimum pay is about $445 a month.

Jacqueline Farias, president of Movilnet, a subsidiary of the CANTV telephone company, said the first 5,000 phones went on sale Saturday in the capital, Caracas, and were quickly sold out. She said another 5,000 would be available this week.

The maker, Vetelca, which is a joint Venezuelan-Chinese venture, aims to produce one million of the phones within several years, Farias said. The parts are manufactured in China, then assembled in Venezuela.

''We want a cellular phone that is better than those we buy abroad,'' she said.

Chávez applauded the new phone Sunday, saying it would help Venezuela reduce its dependence on imported technology.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/venezuela/story/1042522.html

[Judi Lynn]

35. Venezuela's Chinese-technology cellular phone causes consumer frenzy

Venezuela's Chinese-technology cellular phone causes consumer frenzy


www.chinaview.cn 2009-05-11 10:33:02 Print

CARACAS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A new C366 cellular phone launched Sunday by a Venezuelan-Chinese joint venture caused consumer frenzy with President Hugo Chavez calling for calmness.

"Do not break down shop doors," Chavez told his weekly radio and television program "Hello President," presenting the new phone which costs 30 bolivars (14 dollars) and has a camera and an MP3 player, considered to be typical features for phones costing hundreds of dollars, along with the normal functions such as games, a calculator and an address book.

Also on the show, Chavez made his first call using the phone, also known as the Vergatario, to his mother, Elena Frias, and gave her a model of the cell phone as a Mothers' Day gift.

The phone was made by Venezuela Communications (Vetelca), a joint venture 85 percent of which is owned by Venezuela's state-run cellphone company Movilnet and 15 percent by the ZTE Corporation, a Chinese telecoms equipment provider and mobile phone producer.

Yaqueline Farias, president of Movilnet, said the first 10,000 units of the phone had already been sold out and the next 10,000 will be ready on May 13.

She added that another model, the ZTE, is being sold at Movilnet stores.

Venezuela has another cellular phone joint venture, Orinoquia, in Cua, a town in Miranda state. The two firms together can make 2 million handsets a year.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/11/content_11351416.htm

[imdjh]

36. So now we know how much cellphones really cost

All we get here on pricing is bullshit. "This $149 value is yours for only $9.99 with a two year contract." I always figured they must only be worth $9.99.

[Enrique]

37. Hugo Chavez launches phone named with slang for penis

Source: Guardian UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/chavez-venezuela-mobile-phone-vergatorio

It is perhaps the world's cheapest mobile phone. It is the latest offering from Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution. And its name is derived from a slang word for penis. Behold the Vergatorio.

Venezuela's president launched the handset on his TV show with a Mother's Day call to his mum and predicted it would conquer all rivals. "This telephone will be the biggest seller not only in Venezuela but the world," he said. "Whoever doesn't have a Vergatario is nothing," he joked.

Priced just $15 (nearly £10), the phone has a camera, WAP internet access, FM radio and MP3 and MP4 players for music and videos. And it has that name.

Why the president chose it remains unclear, but he enunciates each syllable with a grin. Some laugh, others are affronted.

Verga is slang for penis and vergatario is a newly minted word which signifies excellent but retains connotations from its root.

The word verga, and variations of it, are associated with Venezuela's second city, Maracaibo. Residents are famous for swearing and using Spanish verbal constructions uncommon in the rest of Venezuela.

(...)

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/chavez-venezuela-mobile-phone-vergatorio

[Cronus Protagonist]

38. I want one

I can't wait!

[HereSince1628]

44. Peepee envy?

[BOSSHOG]

39. Gladys are you on the phone again??

[IntravenousDemilo]

41. Gladys has one in her panties and the ringer is set at "vibrate". C'mon, giver her a call! n/m

[Schema Thing]

40. Let me sum up the article: "our headline is bunk"

[CoffeeCat]

42. If that a Vergatorio in your pocket....

...or are you just glad to see me?

[rocktivity]

43. Yeah, but what is the access going to cost?

:headbang:
rocktivity

[happygoluckytoyou]

45. Better a VERGA in your pocket.... than a DICK and a BUSH in the WhiteHouse

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

46. Drum roll. nt

[meow2u3]

47. Verga is also Spanish for rod

eom

[Turbineguy]

48. "...connotations from its root..."

Heh-heh... he said root!

[Turborama]

51. Good catch!

:rofl:

[hughee99]

49. But will it be as big as Wang computers were. n/t

:evilgrin:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

50. Hopefully the factory won't impact the environment as much as a Johnson and Johnson plant.

:+

[hughee99]

53. Nice! n/t

[struggle4progress]

52. "El Vergatario" se vendió como pan caliente

http://www.cadenaglobal.com/noticias/default.asp?not=214591&sec=8

[99th_Monkey]

54. This is OBVIOUSLY from TheOnion.com!!! ... except is isn't. LOL. ~nt~

[dipsydoodle]

55. Duplicate LBN post ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3870885

[struggle4progress]

57. ABC hires Colombian actress with penis stage-name?

Sofia Vergara to star in American comedy
... The comedy will be broadcast in the second half of 2009 by TV station ABC. The comedy will be broadcast in the second half of 2009 by TV station ABC. http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news-lite/115-people/3962-sofia-vergara-to-star-in-american-comedy.html

[EFerrari]

63. LOL

[Dave From Canada]

67. I bet you the workers that make the phones are paid peanuts. That's why it's $14.

[ronnie624]

68. From a Guardian article posted above:

"A government subsidy which cut the retail price to a quarter of the manufacturing cost is likely to make the Vergatario an immediate hit."

[Dave From Canada]

71. So the government is paying much of the REAL cost of the product.

[ronnie624]

75. Yes. If you think that's wrong, elucidate.

But keep in mind: Just recently, "the government" paid "the real cost" of the plundering of the U.S. economy by Wall Street to the tune of trillions of dollars. So, in essence, we have our own system of subsidization as well, the primary difference being, it doesn't benefit the working class, but instead, it benefits corporate millionaires.

[EFerrari]

69. When Chavez was taking measures to deal with the downturn,

one of them was to raise minimum wage. :)

[Dave From Canada]

70. From what? 5 cents and hour to 10 cents an hour?

[EFerrari]

72. Highest in Latin America and up about 800% since Chavez took office.

Venezuela’s minimum wage increases by 800% in ten years
By News Bulletin
MINCI
Saturday, May 9, 2009

During the last decade, the settlement of the minimum wage (it reached 799.5% between 1999 and 2009), show the progress of one of the main labor claims of Venezuelan workers; who hold the highest Latin American minimum wage.

In 1999, when President Chávez took office, the minimum wage was 120 Bs.F ($191). However, ten years later, it has been increased year after year.

In fact, in 2000 and 2001, the minimum wage amounted to 144 and 158 BS.F respectively ($209 and 213). Two years later, in spite of the April-2002 coup d’État and the oil strike promoted by the opposition, it continued growing.

Between 2003 and 2006 it went from 247 BS.F in 2003 to 512,3 BS.F ($238) in 2006, after the recovery of the state-owned oil industry (Petróleos de Venezuela, Pdvsa).

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_55714.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

73. That's information our corporate media forgets to mention, EFerrari!

It gives their oligarchy more reasons to hate his government: now the poor will be getting "uppity," having more money for necessities, even!

Everything south of the border has always been something to exploit, plunder. South America is something corporations see as one vast cheap, CHEAP labor pool, since they owned the governments until recently, and could clearly influence ALL their laws.

We know how our own right-wing respects the idea of paying people what they actually EARN, god bless 'em. Of course they'd be thrilled to learn the minimum wage is rocketed 800% in Venezuela!

Thanks for revealing this major triumph for his government. No small matter, is it? It's a prime bit of information, one to remember.

[Doctor Cynic]

74. That's if you use the government's phony exchange rate to calculate.

512 Bs. is $238 according to the government. On the ground it could be worth 30 or 40% of that. It's all fuzzy math.

[Judi Lynn]

76. I found more about that minimum wage in the Monthly Review:

26.03.09
The Minimum Wage in Venezuela Will Double That in the Rest of South America
by Luigino Bracci

The Venezuelan minimum wage, including the value of food vouchers, will reach $636 in September this year, when the process of raising it by 20% gets completed; the second highest minimum wage in South America is Argentina's $310 per month.

The anti-crisis measures announced by the Bolivarian government last Saturday, although affecting Venezuelans negatively to some extent, will keep Venezuela above the level of the other Latin American countries that are also affected by the global capitalist crisis.

The Ministry of Communication and Information sent us the following graphics, based on data from the Central Bank of Venezuela, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the National Institute of Statistics, and other sources, showing that the minimum wage in Venezuela continues to be the highest in Latin America and, counting the value of food vouchers, it is double the second highest minimum wage.

See the charts below.

Legal Minimum Income (Minimum Wage + Food Vouchers) in Venezuela, 1988-2009

http://img.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/v294/montages/2ka1e2489f81.jpg
Above: Historical Evolution of Venezuela's Minimum Wage from 1988 to September 2009. The blue bar represents the base wage, and the red bar food vouchers. The wage, including food vouchers, will surpass 1,606 strong bolivars per month from September this year, compared with the minimum wage + cestatickets (food subsidy) in 1999, which was 196 real bolivars. (Note: all figures are in real/strong bolivars.)

Below: The Evolution and Growth of the Venezuelan Minimum Wage in US Dollars from 1989 to September 2009, excluding food vouchers. It will end up $450 a month.

Venezuelan Minimum Wage in US Dollars, 1988-2009

http://img.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/v294/montages/2k8f39ebdf69.jpg

Monthly Minimum Wage in Latin America, 2009, in US Dollars

http://img.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/v294/montages/2kfd9260fbeb.jpg
Above: The minimum wage, including food vouchers, will be worth $636 from September this year, continuing to be the highest in Latin America and twice that in Argentina, the country that remains in second place. Even without counting the food vouchers, it is still the highest in South America.

Now, let's look at some social and economic indicators of Venezuela and compare them with those of the United States and other Latin American countries. The indicators of poverty and extreme poverty in Venezuela, after a spike in 2002 and 2003, have continued to decline.

Social and Economic Indicators of Venezuela

Measure of Poverty
Percentage of Poor Individuals by Income Line, Second Semesters 1997-2008

http://img.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/v294/montages/2k03e60de9b2.jpg
The number of households in extreme poverty declined by 58.6% between 1999 and 2008. The Millennium Development Goal was reached in the first semester of 2006, which saw extreme poverty decline to 12.5%.

More:
http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/bracci260309.html