VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro pledged socialist solutions to the country’s economic problems on Wednesday night, vowing that falling oil prices would not derail the Bolivarian revolution.

In his annual address to the national assembly he denounced the “economic warfare” being waged on the country by business interests desperate to sabotage the socialist project.

He acknowledged that runaway inflation was causing problems for ordinary Venezuelans — and announced 15 per cent rises to wages and pensions to help people get by.

Student grants will be raised and 400,000 new houses built for those on lower incomes, Mr Maduro said.

His ambitious measures are a snub to right-wing economists and international bodies which have recommended their usual austerity medicine for economic difficulties, despite the disastrous impact it has had on countries across Europe.

The president did say that petrol prices — at 3p a gallon the lowest in the world — were a “distortion” that would be impossible to maintain indefinitely, though no immediate rise was announced.

The state subsidy for petrol might have to be removed, he warned, adding wryly: “If you want, crucify me, kill me.

“Yes, we have fewer dollars. But God will provide.”

The gap between rich and poor was continuing to shrink, he said, and with assistance from the country’s allies — China in particular has been a key source of loans — the immediate financial problems could be dealt with.

Even if oil was less valuable than before, the nation should be proud of its independence, he said.

“Imagine if the United States controlled Venezuela’s oilfields again. They use oil as a geopolitical weapon to gain a dominant position in the world.”

Carping opposition deputy Juan Pablo Garcia claimed the time was right for the “regime” to “leave the country,” despite the right’s repeated failure to unseat it at the ballot box.

But as Mr Maduro began his speech, the Socialist Unity and Communist majority in the assembly chanted: “They won’t return,” referring to the corrupt right-wing governments the country suffered under before the president’s predecessor Hugo Chavez was first elected in 1998.