Cuba to Boost National Industry with New Measures

Vice President of the Republic, Salvador Valdés, said the eve in the TV program Round Table, that new measures related to domestic trade, aim to strengthen national industry, order imports, while reducing costs and sales prices to the population.

Companies designated by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment will provide Cuban citizens with import services in freely convertible currency, he said.

For the application of these measures, he said, a commission was created with 14 agencies of the central state administration, based on opinions of specialists in the field.

On the other hand, the measures seek to prevent the flight of foreign currency that occurs when Cuban citizens buy abroad and then sell in the national market.

Also, Cuban Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil said that the new measures will boost domestic consumption and national industry, generating employment and meeting the demands of the people.

Speaking at the Round Table TV program on Tuesday, Gil explained that the sale of household appliances and other merchandise to the population will be at competitive prices.

At present, many Cubans buy abroad and then sell those products in the national market.

Because we allocate a large part of our monetary resources to expenses such as health and education, totally free, and other subsidized such as transportation and electricity generation, we are not always able to respond to the demand for consumer goods, he said. We are going to work on the offer and not based on prohibitions, in order to respond to the national demand, said the official, who recalled the context that the country is going through due to the intensification of the US blockade.

As an example, he cited the possibility of increasing the production capacity in the country of televisions and computers, a process that will be financed with the same income from the sale of these products.