Cuba Loan Program to Begin Dec. 20
by Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES, Nov 24 — Bank loans for small businesses and farmers will gradually become a reality starting Dec. 20, states Cuba’s official press on Thursday.
Decree No. 289 is what makes possible the change in policy, however the overall amount of funds budgeted by the government for the loans was not made public.
Among those who will be eligible to apply are small farmers, either owners or renters of land, who will have the chance to borrow for purchasing and repairing equipment and tools that will allow them to increase their production capability.
Likewise other self employed workers will have the chance to request loans to purchase goods and inputs to improve their operations.
Another area where citizens will be able to seek loans is to buy building materials and pay labor in order to build or repair homes.
The banks will make a study of repayment risk factors involved with the perspective borrower and their economic activities or proposed business, notes the decree-law that was published in the Gaceta Oficial earlier in the week,
This is a really interesting article. I’ve no hard knowledge of the Cuban money, banking and credit system, but have always assumed that the state has an exclusive monopoly on both consumer and enterprise credit. If there is a book or pamphlet in English out there, someone please let me know.
Money, banking and credit is at the heart of the socialist program of transformation. This is because enterprise credit is the manner by which a modern economy deploys labor. Socialism is all about the liberation of labor.
In capitalist countries such deployment is accomplished by capitalist bankers extending credit on the “fractional reserve” principle, creating credit/money seemingly out-of-thin-air. They then charge interest on the extension as though it were a “loan” of the bank’s preexisting property. This is inherently unjust because such credit is based on a projection of the productive labor of future workers, not a loan of the bank’s property.
I’ve never understood how socialist Cuba could ever have a dynamic economy with money, banking and credit monopolized by the state. That is, if the state determines investments and issues itself capital credit for its needs, who or what is regulating this process to be sure that everything is working properly?
If the reforms that are dealt with in this article are successful, I think it will be a very good thing for farmers, self-employed workers and the socialist state. I don’t understand however how state-owned banks can every handle such credit extensions effectively. Even so, Best Wishes to embattled Cuba.