Raul: the Cuban People will Rise to Difficulties Once Again

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 9 (acn) Faced with difficulties and threats there is no room for improvisation and much less defeatism, said Army General Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and President of the councils of State and Ministers, adding that the Cuban people will once again rise to difficulties.

In his closing speech at the Seventh Regular Session of the Cuban Parliament, Raul stressed that "we can emerge victorious from a temporary situation like the one we're facing by way of acting with a lot of energy, equanimity, rationality and political sensitivity, and continuing to strengthen coordination between the Communist Party and the Government and especially with much optimism and confidence in the present and the future of the Revolution."
He explained that the first half of this year has been intense, with the carrying out of important national and international meetings, first the 7th PCC Congress, which adopted far-reaching agreements in the interest of the updating of the Cuban economic and social model.
Raul said that the meeting of the Council of Ministers held on June 25, and the Second Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the PCC, held on Thursday, focused on analyzing the report on the performance of the economy in the first half of the year.
The Cuban head of state informed that in the first half of 2016 the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by one percent, "half of what we had planned to achieve," a result conditioned by the worsening of external financial constraints caused by the failure to meet income from exports," together with the constraints faced by some of our major trading partners, due to the fall of oil prices."
"Added to this is a certain contraction in fuel supplies agreed with Venezuela, despite the strong will of President Nicolas Maduro and his government to fulfill them. Obviously this has caused additional tension on the performance of Cuban economy. "
Even so, the country has managed to maintain compliance with the commitments made in the process of restructuring debts with foreign creditors, he clarified, while acknowledging that there have been delays in payments to some suppliers.
He stressed that "as was to be expected, in order to sow discouragement and uncertainty among citizens, speculations and predictions of an imminent collapse of our economy with the return to the acute phase of the special economic period we faced in the early 1990s and we knew how to overcome thanks to the resilience of the Cuban people and their unlimited confidence in Fidel and the PCC, begin to appear.
"We do not deny that problems may occur, even worse than the ones we're facing, but we are prepared and in better condition than then to solve them," he stressed.
He said it is necessary to reduce expenses of all kind that are not essential; foster a culture of saving and efficient use of available resources; and concentrate investment in activities generating revenues from exports, replace imports and support the strengthening of infrastructures, ensuring the sustainability of electricity generation and a better use of energy sources.
"In short, it means not to stop, in the least, the programs guaranteeing the development of the nation" and assured that the social services that the Revolution has achieved will be preserved and measures are taken in order to gradually improve their quality.
He said that in the midst of these difficulties various decisions aimed at increasing the purchasing power of the Cuban peso, including the decrease in prices of a group of products and goods of great demand by the population, were put into effect.
Moreover, he commented, internal financial balance through appropriate levels of supply in the retail market has been guaranteed, while progress is made in implementing wage systems linked to production results, all of which has contributed to prevent inflationary pressures.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PCC reaffirmed that "we will continue updating our economic model at the pace we ourselves define, forging the consensus and unity of Cubans in the construction of socialism.