Cuba Seeks Capital for 246 Projects
HAVANA TIMES — Cuba’s official newspaper Granma has announced that the island’s government will be publicizing 246 investment projects in order to attract foreign capital, for a total value of nearly US $ 9 billion, DPA reported.
On Friday, the Cuban government’s Council of Ministers approved an Investment Opportunities Portfolio that will be presented to foreign investors during the upcoming Havana International Fair (FIHAV), to be held from November 2 to 8.
The portfolio approved by the government contains investment projects for a total of US $ 8.71 billion (some 6.8 billion euros) and “encompasses decisive sectors such as agricultural food products, construction, the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries, renewable energy and others,” Granma outlined.
“The projects encompass all of the country’s provinces,” the daily quoted Vice-President Marino Murillo, head of the island’s economic reform commission.
According to information recently divulged by the organizers, the FIHAV, considered one of the Caribbean’s largest commercial fairs, will welcome some four thousand participants from 60 different countries. Representatives of European countries like Spain and France will participate at the fair this year.
At the close of March, the Raul Castro government approved a new foreign investment law aimed at refloating the island’s economy, as part of the market reforms impelled over the past five years.
The law replaced a legislation that had been in effect since 1995 and which had opened a handful of sectors, particularly tourism, to foreign investment. The new legislation liberalizes a number of other areas but maintains a number of restrictions for foreign investors, such as the inability to directly hire local personnel.
According to Murillo’s statements in March, the island aspires to draw in anywhere from US $ 2 to 2.5 billion a year with the new foreign investment law.
The majority owner in all of Cuban resorts is GAESA, the holding company owned by the FAR, (the Cuban army). The director of GAESA is General Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, the son-in-law of Raul Castro.
Enjoy your stay in Varadero, where the money you spend will be used to fund the military dictatorship of Cuba.
There are now 16 International companies involved in resorts / hotels in Cuba. The Varadero area needs a state of the art theme park. China recently built one in their country at a cost of $ 2.9 billion. Wil Cuba be GGnext for a Chinese owned theme park ?
I will be in Varadero on Sunday at the Iberostar Varadero.
News Flash: Bastista and Lansky are dead.
The embargo had nothing to do with either of those figures anyway. Time to get new talking points.
I haven’t had a chance to review the news about the embargo. Did it make the front page anywhere but Cuba? What were the sanctions imposed by the resolution? Is there to be a boycott of US-made products. Perhaps US banks will be prohibited from making loans those 188 NO-voting countries. Please tell me that at the very least no more Big Macs in Russia. Oh wait, that’s the US who imposed that one. My point is that this vote is a paper tiger and rather meaningless No one will even remember this vote until they vote NO again next year.
Moses, the UN vote today shows yet again how far off-base you and the cottage industry of anti-Castro zealots are when it comes to a U. S. Cuban policy designed solely to appease, enrich, or empower a selected few who, apparently, still relish the Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Controlling the Cuban narrative since 1959 via propaganda and intimidation in the U. S. is one thing but in unanimity {except for the bought-and-paid-for Israel vote} the rest of the world loudly disagrees with you, as reflected by the UN vote today. As a democracy-loving American, I am ashamed of the image the UN vote related to Cuba loudly presents around the world. Of course, Moses, you can readily justify what the rest of the world, including America’s best friends around the world, loudly mocks and wholeheartedly disagrees with. Sane, innocent Cubans and sane, innocent Americans have paid dearly in the last six decades because of a policy the rest of the world opposes. I suppose, Moses, this diabolical policy will exact a huge price from our children and grand-children for another six decades or so.
There’s a sucker born every minute, so maybe they will find foreign investors who aren’t worried their investments will be stolen from them like Canadian, British & French investors have experienced.
Most countries seeking fresh capital use the international debt markets. In this case, Cuba would sell $10 billion of government bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the Cuban government. They would pay the bankers who sold the debt and use the rest of the proceeds to invest in these 246 projects. Instead, the Castros have put Cuba in the position to go begging in the hopes that desperate and stupid foreign investors will overlook the risk of investing in a rogue regime like Castros Cuba and plunk down the cash. A year from now, when there are only 30 projects funded, what will the Castros do? I keep imaging Cuban bonds trading in international markets. Talk about junk bonds. Hahahahaha!