Radio Guantánamo followsg up on a special program of the Roundtable on Thursday, August 29, at 6:00 p.m., with the participation of Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, Minister of Economy; Vladimir Regueiro Ale, head of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, and Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, minister of Labor and Social Security, who present the objectives of the most recent decree-laws approved by the Council of State for the Regulation of Non-State Forms of Management.
The program is broadcast live and simultaneously on the channels Cubavisión, Cubavisión Internacional, Caribe, Radio Habana Cuba and the channels on digital networks of the Roundtable, Cubadebate and the Presidency´s website.
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In Cuba there is no crusade against non-state economic actors
Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, minister of Economy, said that since March 2023, a process of updating the rules that regulate non-state forms of management has been underway, led by a multidisciplinary group made up of several organizations, the Unions, a group of new players, companies, territories (provinces and municipalities).
He recalled that in December 2023, in an ordinary session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz presented the Government’s projections to correct distortions and relaunch the economy, and referred to the process of updating the rules and ratified it in July 2024.
He explained that one of the objectives is to advance the development of the country’s business system and integration among all economic actors.
Among the distortions identified are those related to the management of the business system, a tendency to seek and obtain results through different means that separate it from the main activities for which these systems were created.
About the power decentralization, approval of new players and other authorizations to the municipalities
The process of the power decentralization, approval of new layers and other authorizations to the municipalities, is consistent with the municipal autonomy provided for in the Constitution of 2019 and is in correspondence with powers that have been transferred in other matters to the municipalities.
Regarding the approval of players, today the territories already approve self-employed workers, and since last year they have also approved agricultural cooperatives.
In this sense, the business network must contribute to the strengthening and fulfillment of the Territorial Development Strategy and, on the other hand, the taxes of these players contribute to the municipal budgets.
Small State Enterprises and Socialism
A few days ago, Decree-Law 88 “On micro, small and medium enterprises” was published in the Official Gazette (No. 78-2024).
It is a topic that is much discussed in Cuba, in different business, academic and political spaces. The complexity of the debate consists in that under the same term MSME, different objects are discussed.
Are we talking about any small company, or are we talking about those that are technologically advanced, or are we talking about those that are (or can be) exporters, or are we talking about those that are state-owned, private or mixed?
I am not going to try to address all the facets of the topic in this commentary, but only now insist on a main message, which is this:
We need to accelerate the deployment of new MSMEs (all of them), but especially those that are:
State-owned Producers
Of advanced technology
With export possibilities
And we are not achieving that with the dynamics that are needed.
We must find the causes of this reality, and the actions necessary to transform this reality.
