Alejandro Gil Fernández, deputy prime minister of the Republic of Cuba, stressed in Havana that if the stores in freely convertible currencies (MLC) had not existed, the country's economic situation would be even more complex, and sales in pesos of goods and services to the population, given the high shortage of the commercial network.
When interviewed by the Cuban News Agency on such a sensitive matter, which the enemies of the Revolution misrepresent, the also head of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) recalled that these establishments emerged in 2019 when the US blockade against the largest of the Antilles.
He specified that the purpose of the measure was to prevent natural persons, then suppliers of the domestic market, from leaving the country of the currency, capture it and use it based on the development of the national industry and to maintain a stable level of offers in pesos; but no one calculated that an epidemic would make the situation even more complex, he said.
In October 2021, before the National Assembly of People's Power, I explained that more than 300 million dollars of sales in MLC had been used to supply merchandise to the trade network in national currency, for which it would be necessary to ask what would be the scenario of not having enabled these stores, despite the limitations that are generated, said the deputy prime minister.
He stated that the scenario would also have been different if the dollars that were captured in the first months of the measure could have been used, because due to that blockade that has just completed 60 years of being formalized, the receipt of US currency had to be stopped. in Cuban banks, as of July 20, 2021
Nor can we forget the impact of the global logistics crisis as a result of COVID-19: more than 6,000 containers destined for Cuba, with products to supply stores in Cuban pesos and freely convertible currencies, are paralyzed in international ports because there are problems with shipping companies, with containers and freight costs have increased, he stressed.
Gil Fernández destacó el carácter transitorio de la decisión referida a las tiendas en MLC, cuyo objetivo se está cumpliendo –precisó-, en tanto su periodo de tiempo dependerá de la recuperación de la economía y de que podamos dotar al peso cubano de una capacidad real de compra, dijo a la ACN.
These are the adjustment measures that have a cost, and those that we must face, give more arguments and explanations, so that there is confidence that everything we do is in favor of the people and that it is understood that the results are not they are better, in the first place, due to the impact of a tightened blockade, an epidemic that will soon be two years old, and the considerable decrease in economic activity, stressed the Cuban deputy prime minister.
We know that the population cannot fully meet their needs in these establishments in MLC, and that there is a group of products that we have to offer in this currency, but if we put them in national currency tomorrow, they will last 15 days and then there will not even be currency or in weight, he said.
The head of the MEP considered that although many do not see it that way, it is a measure of social justice because it allows us to redistribute the currency based on the supply of the commercial network in weight; therefore, we have to work on expanding the offers in national currency and we are going in this direction with the approval of the Mypimes, the elimination of obstacles to the state company and with the 63 measures to strengthen the agricultural sector.
All this will make it possible for the economy to recover and for the peso to gain more space, he said.
He stated that the way to deal with inflation is associated precisely with the increase in offers by the State, in national currency, which is not achieved from one day to the next, since it has been restricted by the scarcity of inputs, fundamentally in agricultural activity and in the industrial sector, due to the lack of foreign currency and this problem due to the blockade, COVID-19 and the measures of the US government aimed at preventing remittances from entering Cuba.
These are the reasons why some of the decisions adopted in favor of the gradual recovery of the economy have not yet had the expected impact; It is not a design problem –as many consider-, because every time the country approves something, obstacles immediately appear, they try to stop it, and the siege is constant to prevent our policies from being successful.
Let us remember that between 2020 and September 2021 we lost 13% of the Gross Domestic Product, a really hard impact, Fernández Gil concluded.
Read more...