We have the potential to move forward, Cuban president affirms

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 18 (ACN) Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the country, said today that despite the U.S. blockade and other objective problems, the country has the potential to overcome the difficulties and above all to produce more goods and services for the benefit of the people.

Cuban leader spoke at the session of the Economic Affairs Commission of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), which analyzed the estimates for the closing of the economy in 2023 and the goals and objectives for 2024, based on the extensive information provided by Alejandro Gil Fernandez, deputy prime minister and head of economy and planning.

Diaz-Canel stressed that, although many do not consider it so, the intensified US blockade continues to be the main obstacle to the country's development, which is evidenced in the financial and energy persecutions, and in the consequences of Cuba's inclusion in the list of nations sponsoring terrorism.

What country can move forward without credits or bank loans and in the midst of other adverse conditions as is happening to Cuba, he asked, to clarify that mistakes have also been made internally, which will be discussed at all levels in order to rectify them, such as those related to the monetary order, the banking system and the approval of new economic actors.

In this regard, he pointed out that from now on this last task will be assumed by the municipalities, in order to incorporate the contribution of MSMEs and other forms of management to the Local Development Strategies.

Cuban president highlighted the State's efforts to stop inflation, which presupposes, above all, an increase in the production of goods and services.

He clarified that the tightened blockade, internal errors and the worsening of the world economic crisis with the well-known war conflicts have had an impact on the unfavorable results of the economy in 2023, but in the face of such challenges, creative resistance continues to be an important way out of the difficulties.

In this sense, Diaz-Canel pointed out the need to extend the good experiences and existing results in many producers and labor collectives, as he has verified in his tours through the provinces, an expression that we have potentialities but we must turn those exceptions into a rule.

He also said that only Socialism is capable of offering with social justice the wealth that we are capable of producing, for which he reiterated the conviction that with creative resistance we can overcome the blockade because we have many and good ones.