As of the end of 2018, the Cuban economy will show growth slightly more than 1%, “but that growth, although discreet and still without the impact we need for the population, is meritorious given the conditions in which it was achieved, without deficit in our running accounts, as a result of measures taken, especially in the second half of the year”
This is how Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez described the current situation, on Sunday, during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Standing Committee, during the Ninth Legislature’s Second Period of Ordinary Sessions, underway in Havana.
Commenting on deficiencies noted in execution of the 2018 Plan, he acknowledged that many are due to the complex economic situation we face, which is related to problems accumulated on the structural order, of operations, as well as those of our own making that we must resolve. Nor can the impact of the blockade be underestimated, he said, which has worsened under the Trump administration, especially financial persecution internationally.
Given this scenario, he insisted, we must overcome a portion of every problem, every day.
The 2019 Plan, he said, is realistic, “but it’s the least we can do. And if we implement it well, we have the potential to do more. But if there are bureaucrats, if there are people who delay making decisions, to export, to collect; if there are people who do not have the sensibility that the circumstances demand, then the plan is paralyzed.”We have a plan based on the income we can generate, it guarantees growth and ensures investments associated with priority programs, he emphasized.
(Granma)