Domestic Trade Minister: Cuba needs to improve quality of goods and services

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 5 (ACN) Cuban Domestic Trade Minister Betsy Diaz made an urgent call to all companies and institutions in the country to increase the quality of goods and services provided to the people amidst the re-ordering task underway in the island.

The new scenario calls for better work, she said when analyzing the flow of opinions coming from the population just four days after the beginning of the re-ordering task, when Cuba made drastic changes in wages, prices and eliminated the duality of currencies and exchange rates.

Among the issues that have generated the highest level of opinion is the quality-price ratio in many of the services, and that is why it is essential to settle old accounts in this regard, taking into account that now people will have to pay more for the same goods.

The Minister highlighted that the population still has some confusion regarding the regulated family basket, which tends to be confused with the basket of goods and services of reference.

On this subject, she specified that the cost approved by the Council of Ministers for the products of the regulated family basket (acquired through the ration book) amounts to 180.00 pesos.

In the more than 12 thousand bodegas existing in the country the lists with such products and their new prices, in relation to the unit of measure, are available.

Diaz highlighted that other products were added to the regulated family basket, which although not part of it, are regulated and are sold in the bodegas, such as peas, soaps and toothpaste.

With respect to prices, she pointed out that differentiated food for children -puree, milk, meat- is still subsidized, while in the case of diets only two products will be subsidized so that they are not so expensive.

The Minister pointed out that most of the current diets are not lifelong, but the subsidy for those corresponding to chronic diseases, the diets of pregnant women, HIV positive women and children who receive products for the basal formula is maintained.

She also emphasized that the foods that were moved from December 2020 to January maintain the price prior to the order.

She also referred to the fact that the quality-price ratio in the daily piece of bread every Cuban gets has raised many concerns among consumers and in order to solve them, more than 200 inspections have been carried out in the 15 provinces from which it was possible to conclude that a greater demand is needed in the food industry and the trade system.

The regulated rice is another product around which there is a certain degree of dissatisfaction; as of January, the imported rice is at 7.00 pesos and the national production is at 6.00 pesos.

With respect to the sale of products that were marketed in CUC, Diaz explained that they are maintained with the approved exchange rate, except for alcoholic beverages, cigars and cigarettes, which were correlated.

Regarding the shortages of the latter, she explained that it is due to the lack of supplies in the last days of the year, but the commercial network has already been replenished.

He also explained that not all store chains will continue to receive CUC and the decision was taken based on the logistics for collecting money and transforming the accounting.

Thus, 41 percent of the CIMEX corporation's establishments and 60 percent of Tiendas Caribe accept payments in Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC, the currency that will be taken out of circulation), although analyses continue in order to correct procedures whenever necessary.
Likewise, Díaz explained that in Havana 94 percent of the establishments receive CUC, but neither the Servi Cupet (gas stations), nor the gastronomy of Cimex, Palmares or Artex will.

Regarding the Family Attention System, the Minister said that it has more than seven thousand registered, of which 48 percent are retirees and for them there is a new approved menu of prices without subsidies.

She reminded that these people also receive the regulated family basket and that the assistance in these days has not been the normal one so they should be contacted to hear their opinions.

Diaz highlighted the complexity of this process, especially in the area of popular gastronomy and assured that for its analysis, the decentralization of prices and ensuring nutritional levels are taken into account.

For example, she commented that the government of Havana made adjustments in the territory and differentiated the price of Coppelia ice cream according to the quality of service in its different areas (7 pesos in the Cuatro Joyas store, 5 pesos in the courts and tower and 4 pesos in the wafer area), while in the rest of the provinces prices ranges from 2 to 4 pesos.

There are also dissatisfactions in pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, juice. We must also take into account the popular gastronomy of third category, everything will be reviewed but the business system cannot transfer its inefficiency to the prices, she said.
It was decided to set the price of entry to the children's playgrounds at 2.00 pesos and for those of equipment (Coconut Island, Lenin Park and Expocuba) 5.00 pesos for children and 10.00 for adults; the case of the Monkey Farm continues to be under review.