Havana, Cuba.- The Council of Ministers of Cuba met in this capital on Tuesday to assess the development of the economy until April, a sector that has reported a good performance in several export fields.
According to the newspaper Granma, President Miguel Díaz-Canel chaired the meeting, at which the first deputy minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, presented a report. The positive situation of exports benefits products like rum, cigars, lobsters, shrimps, nickel and steel, the deputy minister said.
Regarding investments, Gil noted that those that are prioritized go as planned, including the sector of furniture, the modernization and enlargement of Holguin’s textile plant, the recovery of fuel capacities and the construction of a hotel in Varadero.
The deputy minister of Economy and Planning called at the meeting to overcome difficulties like ‘the still poor preparation of the stockholders who take part in the investment processes’.
It is indispensable to overcome the difficulties and guarantee that investments are recovered through their yield, without subtracting liquidity from the economy, noted Gil, who was quoted by Granma.
The Council of Ministers also analyzed the situation in the manufacture industry, which has been affected by a deficit in raw materials, and tourism, which was hit by Hurricane Irma in September 2017.
Despite the impact of the cyclone, the difficulties in commercialization in tourist-sending markets and the escalation of hostile actions by the U.S. government, Cuba has received two million foreign holidaymakers until this month.
According to Gil, in the second semester of the year, ‘resources must be allocated where they are indispensable and solutions have to be sought with the available inventories and local productions’.
He urged to eradicate the mentality that in the case of non-compliance with the national production plans, the alternative is imports.
In addition to the development of the economy, the Council of Ministers debated the guidelines to design the State’s Economy and Budget Plan for 2019.
In that regard, President Díaz-Canel insisted on the need to get ‘as close as possible’ to fulfilling this year’s plan. He recalled the difficulties posed by the recent rains associated to Subtropical Storm Albert in recent days.
Other matters debated at Tuesday’s meeting of the Council of Ministers were the fight against administrative corruption and the potentialities of the Union of Military Industries, which can meet the needs from the national economy.
In the case of corruption, the general comptroller of the Republic, Gladys Bejerano, pointed out that in the violations that have been investigated, their origin lies in people’s conduct and the faults of the control systems. Particularly, she noted the insufficient rigor to appoint cadres and in the strict observance of the political and social behavior of officials, executives and cadres, as well as the lack of timely analyses on the workers’ opinions in that regard.
When referring to that issue, Díaz-Canel underlined that the main enemy of the Revolution is corruption, a stance that was established by his predecessor and first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Raul Castro.
‘We cannot coexist with that phenomenon, because it is an expression of the deterioration of values, of tolerance and impunity’, the Cuban president stressed.