Reuters AMX / MOS
Cuba announced on Saturday that it would legalize private activity in most sectors, in a major reform move in a country where the state and its companies dominate all economic activity.
The decision, revealed last August by Labor Minister Marta Elena Vito, was approved Friday during a cabinet meeting, according to the Communist Party’s Daily Granma newspaper.
Until now, private activity was limited to a list of sectors drawn up by the state, which began in 2010 and witnessed its peak during the rapprochement between Cuba and the United States at the end of 2014 and under the term of former President Barack Obama.
The Minister of Labor said, “The previous list, which includes 127 (licensed) activities, has been canceled,” indicating that from now on there will be a regulation that defines the few sectors confined to the country, without giving more details.
Economy Minister Alejandro Gil wrote on Twitter that the reform was “an important step to increase job opportunities”.
The economist at the University of Havana, Ricardo Torres, said that this is “good news” and “a step in the right direction,” even if “it took, unfortunately, a long time to obtain approval.”
The sectors that will remain closed to private activity are expected to include industries considered strategic for the state, in addition to media, health and defense.
More than 600,000 Cubans currently work in the private sector, or 13 percent of the workforce, and these are mainly employed in the restaurant, hotel and tourism sectors.
Source: “AFP”
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