2023-12-22 08:49:00
Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel referred to the regime’s recent economic announcement (AFP/Getty Images)

The dictator of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, assured this Thursday that the shock plan announced the day before in the National Assembly (unicameral Parliament) will not affect citizens and justified that the main thing is “economic recovery.”

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“We have already said it: nothing, absolutely nothing of what we do is to affect the people,” Díaz-Canel wrote on the social network minister, Manuel Marrero, which includes an increase in the price of fuel, electricity, gas, drinking water and other services, in addition to the end of the universal subsidy on ration card products.

The Cuban dictator stated in his message that “our main task is economic recovery”: “The measures announced yesterday will provide a necessary leap in the economy. We will make more Revolution and more Socialism.”

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The Cuban regime confirmed for 2024 one of its largest macroeconomic adjustment plans in decades, which seeks to cut state spending by raising prices subsidized by the State.

Marrero presented the plan in a surprising way and justified that the State cannot continue with the “waste” in certain subsidies.

Cuba has been going through a serious economic crisis for a few years (REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini)

Among these increases, the 25% increase in the electricity rate for the 6% of the residential sector that consumes the most or charging tourists for fuel in foreign currency stands out.

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The cost of water supply will triple for those who do not have timed service and the price of the liquefied gas cylinder will increase by 25%.

The prime minister also announced that “new rates will be applied” to public passenger transport services, but without detailing the increases.

He announced that next year the Cuban regime will change the official exchange rate of the peso (cup) with respect to the dollar, for which a working group has been created with the Central Bank of Cuba.

Since 2021, the official exchange rate remains at 24 cup per greenback for legal entities (companies) and at 120 cup for natural persons.

In the informal market, for its part, the dollar has skyrocketed to 273 cups.

The Cuban regime will increase the price of basic services and will charge tourists in foreign currency for fuel (REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini)

The Cuban regime estimates that the gross domestic product (GDP) will contract between 1% and 2% in 2023, following having predicted a growth of 3% at the beginning of the year.

Inflation in the formal market is estimated to close the year at around 30% (informal inflation is much higher) and the deficit will rise to around 15% of GDP, following the Executive recognized an increase in the 44% with respect to budget.

To all this must be added the reduction in tourism, one of the main sources of income on the island. This year only 2 million foreigners traveled to Cuba compared to the 3.5 that had been estimated. By 2024, 3 million are expected, although this figure is still well below the 4 to 5 million prior to the pandemic.

Cuba has been mired in a serious crisis for three years with shortages of basic products (food, fuel and medicine), rampant inflation, frequent blackouts and partial dollarization of the economy, which has spurred unprecedented migration and social unrest. .

(With information from EFE)

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