Business & Economy

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.

The US Dollar buys more as of Monday in Cuba with the 8 percent devaluation of the Cuban hard currency (CUC). The announcement came from the Central Bank of Cuba. See the full HT news article.

The Central Bank of Cuba has devaluated the island’s hard currency, the Cuban Covertible Peso or CUC, by 8 percent as of Monday against all foreign currencies.

The renovation of the port of Mariel, to the west of the Cuban capital, will be ready in 2014, Marco Aurelio García, special advisor to the Brazilian presidency, announced. The South American nation is financing the construction of new installations and communications infrastructure in this port, with a credit of 800 million dollars. Moreover, Brazilian cooperation also includes a project for the cultivation of soya in the central province of Ciego de Avila.

Brazil’s Petrobras oil company will not continue the search for oil in Cuban waters, Marco Aurelio García, special advisor to the Brazilian presidency, announced in statements to the press accredited on the island. However, the official pointed out, there are possibilities of cooperation in the area of lubricants.