Cuba’s Councils of States and Ministers met Tuesday to discuss the nation’s economy and provide plans around the worsening and illicit economic sanctions by the United States on the island.
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Economic and Planning Minister Alejandro Gil said his department has come up with measures in its National Development Plan 2030 that are broad and “not static, and that can be changed depending the context” when he spoke at the roundtable where President Miguel Diaz-Canel was present.
Gil outlined during the meeting the most important aspects of the plan, which included diversifying and increasing exports while implementing an important substitution model. Gil’s department also stressed state investments in science, food sovereignty and strengthening state-owned companies.
The minister also said the nation was looking into cryptocurrency to create a more sustainable economy less affected by the whims of the U.S. administration under Trump.
"We are considering studying the application of cryptocurrency in national and international commercial relations (...). You have to see how you can incorporate measures of this type that allow us to move forward looking for a solution to the problems," said Gil during the televised discussion.
The minister said the country should expect to double its production of animal feed. State workers should also expect a salary increase, according to Gil.
Granma reports that the Cuban government is set to concentrate efforts also on tourism, renewable energies, and communication across the island as well as eliminating fuel theft.
Gil states, in the case of tourism, “We propose that the currencies that enter the country … go toward paying the national companies for the services they receive. … so that the foreign currency that is paid does not leave the country anymore and stays here and enters the production chains of national industries.”
United States government enacted in May, Titles III and IV of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act (HBA) that has allowed several international entities to sue businesses in Cuba from U.S. courts.
Despite this and other recent sanctions against the Diaz-Canal administration, along with the nearly 60-year economic blockade on the island, Cuba has managed to meet its Millennium Development goals and maintains a high score on the Human Development Index.