Cuba is taking a major step toward transforming its economy toward free-market rules, opening a number of state-controlled sectors to private investment. The comprehensive 176-article reform package adopted in parliament on June 20 opens energy, pharmaceuticals, passenger and cargo terminals, port facilities, vehicle imports, renewable energy, and, under certain conditions, oil and mining activities to private sector investment.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero told parliament that 110 of the 176 measures in the package are currently being implemented. He said the remaining regulations will take effect from September. Marrero noted that more than 100 non-state actors have been authorized for wholesale fuel trade and that the first foreign investment project in this area has also been approved.
Changes in agriculture and housing policies
Parliament's agenda also includes new regulations on agriculture, housing and labor law. In agriculture, land will remain state-owned, but usage rights granted to domestic and foreign farmers, cooperatives and private companies will be expanded.
In housing policy, Cubans will be allowed to acquire a second home in cities, and a mortgage system will be introduced for the first time in the country.
Strategic sectors to remain under state control
The Cuban government will continue to keep sectors it considers strategic, such as health, education, telecommunications, mass media, security, defense and the tobacco industry, under state control.
According to officials, more than 15,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating on the island employ more than a third of the active population. Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) approved this reform package, which includes liberalization and decentralization steps, last June, at a time when the country is experiencing one of its deepest economic crises in decades.
