The country has no less than 200 state-owned companies operating in different sectors of the economy with the biggest being Petroleos des Venezuela (PDVSA), an oil company. The government has used SOEs as a vehicle to advance the objectives of a socialist state, and the revenue of SOEs is used to fund developmental projects such as education, health, housing, etc. Through socialist policies, the government managed to eradicate illiteracy through the introduction of free schooling up to PhD level. The opposition party, namely the Democratic Action, is of the view that economic development of the country is managed at the discretion of President Chaves, and that his control of the state (legislature, executive and the judiciary) is a threat to democracy and democratic values. The opposition felt that the promises that were made to workers before nationalisation have resulted in daily protest marches for better wages, in the wake of an inflation rate of over 30%. Some of the companies that were nationalised, such as steel and cement, have dropped their production output compared to when they were privately owned. This in effect has hampered the country's infrastructure build projects as there is not enough cement and steel.