Havana, Cuba.- Cuba projects an economic growth of around two percent by 2018, after keeping the positive sign of its GDP in 2017 despite severe financial, material and climatic tensions, the government announced.

According to the Executive, in 2017 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices rose 1.6 percentage points ‘in an aggravated scenario of financial restrictions’ and insufficient fuel availability.

Added to this was the impact of the acute drought sustained for three years and the ‘substantial damages’ caused by Hurricane Irma from September 8 to 10, said President Raul Castro, speaking before the Parliament on December 21.

Considered the most powerful and violent in the history of the Atlantic, the meteorological event left here a balance of 10 people killed; damaged more than 179,000 homes and wreaked havoc on infrastructure, health and education buildings, agriculture, communications, the sugar industry and tourist facilities.

Losses amounted to 13,185 billion pesos; amount calculated from the parity of the peso (national currency) with the US dollar. The effects of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the government of the United States cannot be ignored either, ‘which not only has been maintained for more than 56 years, but has also worsened under the new administration,’ the head of state said.

Evaluations of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) indicated that the rise in GDP in 2017 was thanks to the performance of key sectors, including tourism (4.4 percent growth), transportation and communications (3.0), agriculture (3.0) and constructions (2.8).

Amid the financial tensions, the country ensured the vitality of free social services for the entire population and preserved the internal financial balance, with more offers in the retail outlets, said the head of the MEP, Ricardo Cabrisas.

According to the government, 2018 will be complicated for the nation’s external finances; however, ‘we will maintain the firm intention of continuing to gradually recover the international credibility of our economy,’ said Raúl Castro.

The president used his speech before the National Assembly to reiterate to the creditors the will to fulfill the commitments assumed in the different processes of reordering the external debt.

‘We will continue the effort to gradually reduce the portfolio of current payments due to our suppliers, to whom we thank for the support and understanding of the transitory difficulties we face,’ he added.

According to the MEP, the expansion of GDP in 2018 presupposes guaranteeing the efficient use of available financial and material resources, raising export revenues and domestic production, particularly of food, without sacrificing ongoing development programs.

The main expected growth includes the sectors of construction (12.0 percent), commerce (6.7) and tourism (4.2), basically, according to the Plan subscribed by the Legislative.

After the debate in commissions and plenary session, the deputies supported the proposal to prioritize in 2018 the recovery before the damages caused by the hurricanes Matthew and Irma; the investments associated with development, infrastructures and the strengthening of income in foreign currency.

Similar priority was requested for food production, the sustainability of basic services such as health, education, culture and passenger transport; the sugar harvest and basic medicines.

UPDATE ON ECONOMIC MODEL

The problems to update the model of economic and social development in Cuba are ‘more complex and deeper than we had thought,’ Raul Castro acknowledged when addressing the issue in the National Assembly.

According to the president, the elimination of the monetary duality ‘will not magically solve all the accumulated problems’ in the domestic economy, but ‘it is the most decisive process to advance in updating the economic model.’

The country is working hard to achieve the unification of the monetary system and to counteract the distortions in terms of subsidies, prices, wholesale and retail rates, pensions and salaries of the state sector of the economy, the president added. ‘Not even the wisest of the wise can calculate the high cost that the persistence of the monetary duality, which favors the unjust inverted pyramid, has meant for the state sector,’ he asserted.

Inverted pyramid because ‘the greater the responsibility the lower the retribution and not all eligible citizens feel motivated to work legally, while the promotion to higher positions of the best and most skilled workers is discouraged, an as a result, they prefer to emigrate to the non-state sector, ‘he argued.

Another priority is to complete the long-term Development Plan, said the member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the head of the Implementation and Development Commission, Marino Murillo.

Among the most important issues he mentioned the development of the socialist state enterprise as a fundamental formula in the national economy, and the promotion of foreign investment.

We have to design the necessary elements to achieve the full functioning of the socialist state enterprise, which, of course, also goes through the monetary order. In relation to the monetary duality, ‘we have been working and we are working hard; At the moment there are 13 subgroups with more than 200 people involved in this task ‘with all intentionality,’ Murillo revealed.

The new government policy on non-agricultural cooperatives (CNA) and self-employment do not represents a setback in the recognition of non-state formulas within the Cuban economic model; it only seeks to eliminate deviations from the original idea provoked by indiscipline and corruption, he added.

A total of 429 CNAs were approved within the experiment, according to the changes, they must work in the interest of territorial development, they will not be able to carry out activities outside the province where they have their legal domicile, and the difference in income between the partner of lower and higher retribution cannot exceed the third.

Checks by the Comptroller General of the Republic found deviations in this regard. For example, there were CNA in which the lowest remuneration was 3,000 pesos, and the president received 37,000; that is, 14 time more.

‘And if the president of the cooperative wins 14 times more than the workers, that’s not a cooperative, that’s a private company, and that cannot be allowed,’ Murillo said.

Some CNA, he added, lived on the contracted work and not on the work of its members; that also violates a principle of cooperativism. Therefore, the number of partners and workers will also be regulated from now on.

The specialist also highlighted the implementation of new sectoral policies, including changes in agriculture, computerization of society and those related to the demographic dynamics of the country. So far, we have been working on 80 new policies, 18 of them have already been approved; 15 concluded or in the process of approval and another 47 are in different stages of preparation, he concluded.

A PARADIGM OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Budget for 2018, approved by the deputies, plans to support basic services to families, subsidies to people with limited resources for the purchase of construction materials and financing in order to encourage exports and investments and replace imports.

In the same way it will protect the continuity of the activities associated with the recovery of Hurricane Irma and the confrontation of other climatic phenomena.

The Minister of Finance and Prices, Lina Pedraza, pointed out that 55 percent of the income will go to the budgeted activity, mainly education and public health.

This priority constitutes a paradigm of social justice and protection of human rights, unattainable today for many countries and in particular for our geographical region, she added.

To education in general, 8,180 million pesos were assigned (one peso is equal to one dollar at the official rate). This will guarantee the enrollment of 1,775,000 students in pre-school to mid-level education, and 185,000 students in Higher Education; as well as the investments registered in the Plan, she outlined.

While Public Health will have 10, 565, 000 million pesos, which will finance more than 200 million medical consultations, the expenses of admitted patients, the services of stomatology and the development of specialized rooms, she outilned.

Taking into account the aging population in Cuba, the Budget will cover the care of more than 13 thousand elderly people who attend homes and nursing homes, also endorsed the law passed by the Legislative.

In order to favor repairs and the construction of houses by the population, the legal norm contemplated the granting of subsidies for an amount higher than 800 million pesos.

With a view to supporting Social Security, more than six billion pesos will be employed; this will ensure pensions to more than 1.7 million people and short-term benefits, including maternity benefits, says the budget law.

Achieving a prosperous and sustainable socialism in Cuba requires the favorable performance of the economy as a premise to create material sustenance, which guarantees a distribution of socially just and equitable wealth, the minister summarized.