Cuban Government Plan for Economic Boost still Slow

Havana, Sept 30 (ACN) The Cuban government’s plan to correct economic distortions and boost the local economy is advancing but not at the desired speed, said Economy Minister Joaquin Alonso in a recent meeting of the Cuban Council of Ministers.

Alonso said that while the actions already taken are still incipient, some economic indicators show certain change to the better, which suggests more efforts.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said that the most important result out of the actions taken is the reduction of the budget deficit. However, he noted that although important actions have been taken, they have not yet had a direct positive impact on the people.

Marrero stressed the need to prioritize actions like addressing high prices of basic consumer goods, the need to increase local production, which would directly benefit the people.

Economy and Planning deputy minister Mildrey Granadillo submitted a report on actions backing the governmental plan. She referred to follow up on the prices of basic foodstuffs at private businesses, a sector which has records of good but also bad experiences.

Although the aim of the actions is not imposing fines, but promoting price regulation, said the deputy minister, more than 137 thousand fines have been imposed on private businesses after over hundreds of thousands of violations of the established regulations have been detected.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel considered it necessary to speed up actions which contribute to address the budget deficit, the relationship between the state and the private sector, and help start controlling inflation as well as the exchange rate of the Cuba peso.

The discrete advancement in the macroeconomic indicators do not yet reach family economy, though they begin to order some elements.