Business & Economy

Problems as diverse as shortage of raw material (raw cane), industrial accidents, the breakdown of machinery, lack of rigor and exigency, and the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in eastern Cuba cast doubt on the outcome of the current sugar harvest.

Cuban President Raul Castro and First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel officers sent two separate messages of congratulations to newly elected Chinese leaders, reported dpa news.

The Cuban government has just changed the name, mission and functions of the Ministry of Informatics and Communications through an executive order. Likewise, the University of Information Sciences (UCI) will now be under the Ministry of Higher Education.

The milling of sugar cane in Cuba has been hampered by the damage to refineries, transportation problems and low crop yields resulting from Hurricane Sandy, which stuck the east of the island this past October.

The rescheduling Cuba’s debts to Russia has caused concern among other creditor countries belonging to the “Paris Club,” said Western diplomats to Reuters, though they didn’t want to identify themselves.

Thirty-five biogas plants, mostly in swine facilities belonging to private producers, will be built in the eastern province of Holguin this year, reports the Granma newspaper.

A total of 91 deaths by accidents were recorded in Cuba in 2012, reported the Trabajadores weekly.

Most young people in Cuba prefer to work in the public sector, according to a study released on Thursday at the International Congress of Research on Youth, reported the Prensa Latina.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has fined the Eagle Global Logistics Corporation $140,000 for doing business with the government of Cuba, reported Prensa Latina.