Business & Economy

Until yesterday Cuba had an Economy and Planning minister who was also in charge of implementing the reforms in the country’s struggling economy. Now the government of Raul Castro has decided the job should be separated.

The production delay in nine of the 39 sugar mills grinding in the current sugar harvest could endanger the results of this campaign, Cuba’s reported IPS. Despite the government’s investments, the breakages, production interruptions and organizational deficiencies have caused the poor yields of these sugar factories.

Cuba will extend in its tobacco plantations a new variety of this plant known as Corojo 2006, more resistant to plagues, created in the Tobacco Experimental Station of the western province of Pinar del Río, reported IPS. That region is known in the world for the quality of its tobacco leafs, used to make the famous Havana cigars.

The prosecutor’s office requested a 20-year prison sentence for Chilean businessman Max Marambio for the crimes of bribery, falsification of banking and commercial documents in the trial against him opened at the Havana Provincial Court, reported IPS. Marambio was tried in absence, since he has refused to appear before the Cuban authorities.

Tourist arrivals in Cuba increased by 14.7 per cent in the first two months of 2011 as compared to the previous year, the National Office of Statistics announced. That figure represents a recovery in tourist arrivals, which had decreased a little in January and February 2010.

Republican legislator Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will again present a bill known as the Protection of Caribbean Coral Reefs Act, which will impose sanctions on foreign companies that do business with Cuba in the oil sector, reported IPS. The representative, known for her total opposition to the Cuban government, believes that the United States should have absolutely no contacts with the island, even when an oil spill occurs in waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The growing demand for bread in Cuba because of the creation of new private food outlets has led to a an increase in production of 58,000 to 89,000 tons a year, for which the island’s authorities will make investments in that sector, said sources from the food industry.

The Cuban authorities granted 171,000 new licenses to persons interested in private work on the island, in some of the 178 activities approved since October 2010, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security reported. That figure represents more than double the independent labor force that existed prior to the labor reform.

It is inadmissible that there are still idle lands in cities and towns in Cuba, 14 years after the start of the urban agriculture program, Adolfo Rodríguez Nodals, head of the Urban and Suburban Agriculture Movement on the island, affirmed. The Cuban authorities are trying to increase the production of food, 80 per cent of which has to be imported.

If prices remain steady, the move will increase the buying power of tourists visiting Cuba as well as that of Cubans receiving remittances from abroad.