Cuba's Council of Ministers discussed design of the 2025 Economy Plan

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 1 (ACN) The Council of Ministers of Cuba approved the Global Model and the Government Directives for the design of the Plan of the Economy and the State Budget for 2025, which in contrast to previous years, had among its premises to take as a reference an estimated closing of 2024, and not the approved Plan and Budget of the State.

This was informed by the Presidency in a statement published on its website, on the most recent meeting of that government body, which was held on Sunday, headed by the President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and directed by the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.

According to the statement, taking into account that the resources demanded in the economy exceed those generated, the following general objectives were set: to increase domestic production; implement strategies and manage the increase in export revenues, boost foreign direct investment flows into the economy, increase remittances and identify other necessary sources of financing.

Likewise, the following are premises: the greatest possible containment of all current expenditures; postponing and even paralyzing investments that are not essential at this stage; boosting tax revenues; restricting current and capital expenditures of the budgeted sector as much as possible, as well as reducing the transfer of resources to the business sector.

Speaking on this point, the general secretary of the Cuban Workers' Union, Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, pointed out the importance of granting workers' collectives the widest possible participation in the formulation of the economy's plans and budgets. This will allow, he said, "to bring autonomy closer and closer to the place where the economic fact is generated".

The Prime Minister stressed that in the midst of the war economy scenario in which the country operates "is when we most need to plan and when we most need to exercise control".

Among other ideas, Marrero Cruz stressed the objectivity with which the Economic Plan and the State Budget should be prepared: "objectivity does not mean planning the impossible, but neither does it mean not planning all those things that we could achieve, even with the difficulties and the complex scenario we are going through".

Hence his emphasis on developing a collective work and "having well identified the distortions in order to eliminate them and look for answers to them". All this implies, he reflected, having updated local development strategies, as well as being able to take advantage of "the collective intelligence potential of our workers, and to think together what else we can do, what solutions we are going to look for".

Joaquin Alonso Vazquez, Minister of Economy and Planning, then informed about the behavior of the economy at the close of 2023, which shows a decrease with respect to the previous year, and the estimate for the first half of 2024.

The first of these topics will be presented during the next ordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power, where it will be debated by the deputies. Regarding the second, Alonso Vazquez commented that the situation continues to be complex and insisted on the need to evaluate the causes of what has been happening in the economy in order to act on what we should do in the second half of the year.

In particular, regarding the results of the economy in the first six months of the year, the Minister of Economy and Planning detailed that during the semester, exports in items such as mechanized tobacco, coal, lobster, elver, and other fishing products, as well as biopharmaceuticals, were fulfilled. Meanwhile, production of nickel, honey, twisted and raw tobacco did not reach the figures foreseen for the semester.

In the particular case of service exports, he said that telecommunications services decreased during the period, while medical and tourism services grew. It is estimated that at the end of the first semester of the year, 1,321,900 visitors will arrive to the country.

After the presentation of the report, which evaluates the non-compliance of several indicators of the Plan 2024 due to the economic difficulties and their impact on several areas of the economy, Joaquin Alonso Vazquez considered that, "more than focusing on what happened during the first six months of the year, it is important to evaluate the causes to focus on what we must do in the second half of the year".

During the meeting, the members of the Council of Ministers also heard the report on the execution of the State Budget at the end of April 2024 and approved the proposed actions to be taken to modify its behavior, marked by a high fiscal deficit.

Likewise, the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, presented the report on the Liquidation of the State Budget for 2023, along with an action plan to solve the deficiencies detected during this process.

At the conclusion of the debate, the highest governing body agreed to submit this Budget Liquidation report to the consideration of the National Assembly of People's Power, at its next session in July, for its analysis and approval.

Following this item, the Comptroller General of the Republic, Gladys Bejerano Portela, reported on the control actions carried out in the preparation of the 2024 State Budget and the Liquidation of the 2023 Budget.