Communist Party Congress to analyze the development of Cuban economy

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 15 (ACN) The 8th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, to be held April 16-19, will analyze, among other important issues, the economic and social results achieved during the previous five-year period.

It will also discuss the work projections for the coming years, in order to guarantee the continuity and irreversibility of Socialism and to advance in the economic development and in the improvement of the quality of life of the population, in close connection with the necessary formation of ethical and political values in the people, Granma newspaper reported.

For almost a year, a commission, with the participation of representatives of the Party, the Government, the Permanent Commission for Implementation and Development, the Mass Organizations, academics and researchers, has worked hard to prepare the documents that will be analyzed by the delegates to the meeting.

These include five basic headings: brief review of the economy during the five-year period 2016-2020, comprehensive assessment of the updating of the economic model since the 6th Congress to date. Guidelines and policies, update of the Conceptualization of the Economic and Social Model, National Plan for Social Economic Development until 2030 and Update of the Guidelines for the next period.

Regarding the first of the items, Granma pointed out that during the last five years, the Cuban economy has gone through different difficulties that have had an impact on its results, in which the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade measures, particularly in recent years, has had a negative effect.

There have also been structural problems and internal deficiencies, which have affected the development of the national economy and have not been fully resolved at this stage.

However, it asserts, it has demonstrated its resilience, which has allowed preserving social conquests, without giving up the planned development objectives and solidarity support to other peoples.

From 2016 to 2019, the Cuban economy experienced a discreet growth of the Gross Domestic Product, at a 1% annual average rate.

For 2020, it is expected to contract by around 11 %, as a result of the effects on economic activity due to the impact of the blockade and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Important actions developed since the 6th Congress, with the purpose of transforming the economic model, can be seen in the information that will soon be in the hands of the delegates.

Between 2011 and 2016, it is worth mentioning, among others, the creation of the bases for the monetary order, the initial steps for the development of the different economic actors, the beginning of the implementation of changes in the management system of the economy, as well as the improvement of the management systems and bodies at the different levels of the State and the Government.

From 2016 to 2021, it highlights, among the policies and measures approved, the task of management, due to its complexity and transversality in all spheres of the country.

The economic situation from 2011 to date and the characteristics of the current context have shown the need to update the Conceptualization of the Economic Model and the Guidelines.

In this sense, the project to update the Conceptualization of the Economic Model, to be presented to the 8th Congress, proposes to modify 24 percent of the 342 paragraphs of the document.

The main modifications and additions seek greater consistency with the foundations and terms included in the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, taking into account the results of the implementation of the Guidelines and Policies approved since the 6th Congress so far.

Out of the 274 guidelines approved in the 7th Congress, the update project proposes to maintain 17, modify 165, eliminate 92 based on the level of implementation reached and add 18, thus presenting a document made up of 200 guidelines.

Among its projections and objectives are to improve socialist planning, which includes greater flexibility in the whole process, to advance in the use of financial instruments in the management of the economy and its close link with long-term strategic planning.

In addition, to strengthen the socialist state enterprise as a key subject of the national economy, to perfect and develop cooperatives and other new economic actors, to give continuity to the ordering task, maintaining the principle of social justice of the Revolution, as well as to expand and diversify the financial sources and the efficient use of decentralized mechanisms of financing in foreign currency, in correspondence with the demands of development.

It also intends to strengthen the work of prevention, assistance and social work, and implement new programs and social services, aimed at the most vulnerable individuals and families; and improve the management model of the agricultural and forestry sector, and transform the state enterprise, in order to sustainably increase agricultural production and create better conditions for the development of the remaining forms of management that make up the productive base.

Consolidating the productive centers and their linkage with industry, tourism and supply to large cities, continuing the implementation of measures aimed at transforming the country's energy matrix, savings, efficiency and reduction of maximum demand, advancing in the computerization of society and the automation of processes; and consolidating achievements in social development and increasing the quality of basic services to the population, as well as achieving improvements in consumption and standard of living, are also among the purposes.

In all the work carried out, it has served as a guideline, what was expressed by Army General Raul Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, on April 19, 2016, during the closing of the 7th Congress: "The process of updating the economic model that we started in the 6th Congress is not a task of one or two five-year periods. The course has already been set. We will proceed at a steady pace, without haste, but without pause, bearing in mind that the pace will depend on the consensus we are able to forge within our society and the organizational capacity we reach to introduce the necessary changes, without haste or improvisations that would only lead us to failure".