Business & Economy

Cuba’s government again increased the price of gasoline and diesel by between four and eight per cent. This is the second hike in six months, after last September the Ministry of Finance and Prices responded to the rise in oil prices on the international market with another increase.

Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Monday that the program to lay off 500,000 public sector workers by the end of March was not progressing on schedule.

The XIII Habano Cigar Festival came to a close late Friday with an auction of custom made humidors and top grade cigars that brought in US $1.1 million for Cuba’s Public Health system.

The Canadian corporation Sherritt International expects a reduction in its productions of oil, nickel, cobalt and electricity in Cuba in 2011, despite the increase in its profits in 2010, when it registered a net income of 222.4 million dollars, according to the U.S. news site Cuba Standard.

The Cuban authorities will extend to the entire country a study carried out in the province of Mayabeque, southeast of Havana, to control the distribution of milk, affected by problems in the quality of the product, transportation and conservation. More than 70 per cent of the milk in the country comes from the cooperative and farmer sector.

Housing construction has nosedived in Cuba since 2006, when 11,373 new homes were built, according to a report by the National Office of Statistics (ONE). In 2010 barely 34,014 homes were built. The housing shortage is one of the biggest problems facing the Cuban population, especially felt by the youth who find it nearly impossible to live independently.

The sale of cigars marketed by the Habanos S.A. company grew two per cent in 2010 and it is expected that this year a similar level will be maintained, said Javier Terrés, vice president of development of the company, a joint venture between the British Imperial Tobacco Group and the island’s government. Terres said, “The coming into force of the anti-smoking restrictions, one of Europe’s harshest, in Spain will affect cigar sales.”