Cuba to Start Private Sector Loan Program
HAVANA TIMES, March 30 — Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the opening of credits for the farmer sector and persons authorized to exercise self-employment, in an expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers. In addition, small private enterprises will now be able to offer products and services to state entities.
Those measures join the group of reforms begun by the government “to modernize the country’s socialist system.”
The amount of funds being made available for such loans and the requirements to obtain them were not detailed.
Another demand of newly created private businesses is for the government to establish wholesale markets where they can legally purchase the inputs and products they need to do business. Those currently do not exist and many things are only available on the black market.
This is stunning, good news. The small entrepreneurial sector must be brought into the socialist project if meaningful, workable socialist is ever to exist in Cuba–or in any country.
But the next decisive step that the gov’t needs to make is to begin conversion of larger industry and commerce to cooperative employee associate ownership on the Mondragon, Spain model. This would make the workers manage themselves and would quadruple productivity and job/life satisfaction.
If the socialist Cuban state would take that next step–and co-own big industry and commerce thru non-controlling shares–Cuba would become a socialist beacon unto the entire world.