HAVANA, Cuba, May 14 (ACN) The gradual and selective implementation of an exchange scheme for the sale of freely convertible currency (MLC) to national state and non-state suppliers, agreeing with them production levels and prices for its commercialization in Cuban pesos, is one of the measures included in the update of the Cuban Economic-Social Strategy.
Alejandro Gil Fernández, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning, while speaking at the 5th extraordinary session of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) made the announcement this Saturday.
He explained to the deputies that there is a missing piece in the country’s monetary scheme, which is the sale of foreign currency, which is generating a significant gap between the formal and informal exchange rates.
He commented that, contrary to what some people think, the exchange rate that balances the national economy is not that of the informal market because it is very restricted.
We have to manage the availability of foreign currency and selectively and gradually create a secondary allocation scheme to sell to state and non-state economic actors at an exchange rate higher than 24 Cuban pesos but lower than the informal one, he explained.
The resulting productions, he said, will be sold in national currency to state entities for subsequent commercialization in Cuban pesos.
Gil Fernández clarified that this measure will begin with food and products in high demand, and is aimed at creating the conditions for later, when availability allows it, to be able to move on to the sale of foreign currency.
Regarding the updating of the Strategy, he stated that it was done because it was necessary to adapt it to the current context.
He emphasized that it includes 158 measures which concentrate on the priorities for the country, and that among the main actions to guarantee the fulfillment of the objectives and goals of the Plan for the Economy, it is important to study in detail all the companies with losses, in order to adopt the corresponding actions in each one of them in order to get out of the current situation.
The Strategy also includes prioritizing fiscal sustainability in the conception and design of the income and expenditures of the State Budget; and proposing new transformations for the improvement of the socialist state enterprise, related to the mission and functions of the Government Boards, of the OSDEs, the operation of the micro, small and medium state enterprises and the affiliated companies, and to advance in the structural transformations in progress.
The Minister of Economy and Planning also stressed that it is necessary to lead the process of creation of new economic actors and their effective insertion in the Cuban economy.
Evaluating international experiences in relation to cryptocurrencies and their possible use in Cuba is also among the measures included in the Strategy.
We have to bet on the increase of foreign currency acquisition from the increase of exports, said Gil Fernandez when highlighting that the strategy responds to those principles.
Bold, innovative measures have been incorporated, always aspiring to the greatest possible equity, the road is not easy and the enemy is determined to make it more difficult for us; he added.
He insisted that there are no magic measures, and that our path – he affirmed – is to defend what we have, hard work, creativity, integration of all the economic actors, employment growth, and the recovery of the purchasing power of the income.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, little by little the country is recovering and the speed with which this is done depends to a great extent on external factors, but also on what we are capable of doing.