Cuba opens even more sectors to private business

(Patria) - Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday announced greater freedoms for small businesses across the country, as the communist government takes steps to liberalize the island's economy in the face of a tough US blockade, AFP reported.

In a speech broadcast on national television, Diaz-Canel said Cuba would open more sectors to private enterprises and simplify the approval process for new ventures.

"For non-state forms of management, the list of prohibited activities will be limited to make their scope of action as broad as possible," the president said. "A process is underway... to approve all pending requests in the shortest possible time."

Under pressure from the oil blockade imposed by Washington in January, the Cuban government has introduced a series of reforms aimed at opening up the economy.

Private enterprises, which can employ up to one hundred people, were approved in 2021 and have become an increasingly important part of the Cuban economy. Since February, they have been allowed to import fuel, a sector previously controlled exclusively by the state.

As part of the new measures, the government will allow private enterprises to invest in the economy under the same conditions as foreign investors, after some of them recently left Cuba amid concerns over US sanctions.

Diaz-Canel said the government is also considering eliminating state intermediaries in import and export operations.

The president reiterated his commitment to decentralizing the economy and giving greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises, which account for roughly eighty percent of economic activity.

He also announced a reform of the state bureaucracy that would reduce the number of ministries and cut the number of state employees, a plan that requires parliamentary approval in July.

Diaz-Canel assured that the new reforms "will soon be considered and very quickly approved."

He also sought to project confidence despite the country's growing economic difficulties.

"The state is not paralyzed. The state is intelligently facing this situation," said Diaz-Canel, denouncing what he described as a policy of "maximum pressure" from Washington.

In addition to the oil blockade, the United States has imposed a series of sanctions on Cuba. These measures have further worsened the economic, social and energy crisis that has shaken the island for years, despite its decades-long struggle against the US embargo dating back to 1962.