Business & Economy

The ability of most Cubans to buy building materials at market prices and whether the government stores can meet demand are two of the big questions posed by the wage earning population.

Cuban agricultural authorities are creating farms throughout the island to recover the production of fruit, a crop that has been depressed for many years due to neglect, lack of incentives for producers and lack of seed banks.

Russia’s Gazprom Neft Oil Company acquired 30 per cent of a project operated by Malaysia’s Petronas Oil Company for the exploration in four blocks of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico, announced Alexander Dyukov, director of that state-run entity.

The Gemini cruise ship run by the recently created Happy Cruises of Spain docked in Havana Bay on Friday where it will establish its new home port for 8-day trips around the Caribbean.

The manual of proposed changes in the economy published by the Cuban Communist Party as a guide for discussions at workplaces and in community meetings leading up to the April 2011 Party Congress is now available in Spanish. We will also publish it in English when it becomes available.

A national seminar began in Cuba yesterday for political leaders and economists from around the country in preparation for a nationwide discussion on the Communist Party and government´s proposals for economic and social policies for the country.

The Cuban government aims to expand the opening for foreign investment and reduce the State’s weight in the national economy. The authorities will also give greater opportunities to the development of the domestic private sector and will give autonomy to public enterprises, which will be eliminated if they are not efficient.