For the first time in 60 years, a cube will let foreign investors into wholesale and retail trade in the country. The current economic crisis, caused by the years of the pandemic and US sanctions, forced the government to partially sacrifice the heritage of Fidel Castro, which nationalized the Cuban economy in the 1960s. But the economists are skeptical and believe that this is a half -timer that will not change the situation, the article published by the Russian BBC service.
Cuba authorities will allow foreigners to fully own wholesale companies or enter the market through joints with the Cubans of the enterprise. In retail, investors will have fewer opportunities, as the state intends to preserve its dominance in this sector. Reforms will also allow foreign companies to invest in warehouse and logistics companies that supply retail.
Cuban Foreign Minister Ana Teresa Gonzalez Fega, quoted by the Miami Held newspaper, says that the government decided to take such a step to save the local industry and quickly increase the availability of food and other essential goods in stores. “We want these measures to immediately reduce the deficit and food to appear on the shelves,” said Gonzalez Frag.
Cuba has encountered the largest economic crisis over the past 30 years: the years of the Pandemia have practically ruined the tourist and related industries, the sanctions introduced by the former US President Donald Trump, even more reduced the number of possible sources of budget revenues, subsidies from friendly countries, for example, for example Venezuela, reduced. In May of this year, the United States softened a number of tough restrictions introduced during the presidency of Donald Trump, but it is necessary for the economy to notice the effect.
Last year, the government’s currency reform and the government’s decision to sell scarce food products in stores using MLC – freely convertible virtual currency, approximately equivalent to one dollar and inaccessible to many Cubans, they aggravated the inequality, led to protests and provoked the most massive outcome of the Cubans to the United States in the United States Since the 1980s.
The situation with food is so bad that the state is forced to normalize not only the name and number of products in one hand, but also the days of the week when people can go and buy something in the store. But even with such normalization, people have to stand in lines for hours, if not for days, but there is still not enough food for everyone. Cubans, who rummage in street garbage containers in search of at least some food, have become commonplace. And problems are not only with food – in Cuba a deficiency of drugs and fuel. First necessities have to be sought in the black market, and the prices for everything necessary increased by 70%.
Investors themselves, on anonymity, told Reuters that they do not trust the Cuban government and fear the generosity of the regime, cooperation with which can lead to unpredictable consequences.